Together - MCU High-School AU
by FlirtingWithDeath000
Summary: Tony Stark, the child of a multimillionaire, but also an abusive father, goes through the hardships of high-school and faces more than just the attractiveness of his rival Stephen Strange. *Originally posted on wattpad , but it's still my work*
1. AN Can anyone Help?

So I have encountered a problem, I am still new at this formatting thing since I am used to posting on

So I copy and paste from wattpad, and then select as and clear formatting.

But it gets rid of all my marks like: "-" or "~", which I put when the scene changes when I publish it.

I have tried putting the lines that it provides, which I have seen other users here use when I read other fics, but they don't seem to appear when I go to preview it. Maybe it appears when you guys read it but I don't know. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Otherwise, it's confusing to read, because there are no indications or a scene change otherwise.

If the line things don't appear when you guys read them, you can see what I mean by it being confusing with any indications.

If anyone can fix it, please say so, I would love to be able find a way to fix it,

Thanks,

-DJ


	2. ONE: New Year, New Kid

Loki finished getting neatly dressed in front of his mirror. Even with jeans and a winter jacket, his look was sleek and...cute. He blushed at his thoughts and waved off the emotion.

He glanced at his clock on the wall and grabbed his school bag, placing his neat pile of new school books and supplies inside.

He then proceeded to quietly sprint downstairs to the kitchen, placing his bag at the table. He heard his mother enter the downstairs area.

Loki continued to make his cereal as he was reading the new novel required for English this new year.

"Good morning Loki," his mother greeted.

Morning mother," he answered, not looking up from his book.

"Could you please go wake up Thor? At this rate, he'll be late,"

"That's his problem," Loki groaned, with a mouthful of milk, closing his book.

"Loki,"

He fumed and headed back upstairs muttering something about laziness. He reached Thor's bedroom and slammed the door open, too annoyed to knock.

"Wake up Thor, you'll be late," he growled.

Thor's room was a messy dragon hole with clothes everywhere. The hot heat over the past summer didn't help.

When Thor didn't answer, Loki sighed and stepped over his junk to the window to let in the fresh brisk Autumn air into the stuffy bedroom. He grabbed a football and bounced it on Thor's forehead. "Wake up, Sparkles."

He headed back out the door and chuckled when Thor yelled his name.

"Did he wake?" Frigga asked.

Loki shrugged, chugging down the last of his milk and cereal and headed to the front door, not forgetting his book and bag. "I'm leaving,"

Thor entered the dining room and frowned. "Leaving? I just got up,"

Frigga rolled her eyes and continued to read the newspaper.

"See you at school brother," Loki left, leaving Thor the dishes.

**...SceneChange...**

"You know what, bus stops are just made for bullies." Bucky groaned as Zola and one of his buddies was seen approaching the same stop he and Steve met at.

Steve shrugged, not glancing at him. "Well, if we ignore him, it should be alright. Maybe."

"Hey Metal Arm, gonna use your brain next time and not investigate an abandoned train car?" he called from meters away.

"Ignore him," Steve said, barely muttering since Zola was far from ear-shot away, as he saw Bucky pull his sleeve down to his fingertips to hide the prosthetic arm he got a few years ago.

They two didn't give Zola any attention. He always greeted each term with the same attack, towards Bucky's arm.

"The bus couldn't come any sooner." Bucky sighed, looking down the road.

Steve crossed his arms. "The bus stop two blocks down should reopen soon, I saw the construction workers fix the sidewalk Obadiah ruined last week."

"Nerds, did you hear me?" Zola was a lot closer. The bus was visible, heading towards them. "Or did you lose your hearing? Obviously, it's just as bad as last year, not being able to listen to the teacher so B is the only grade you'll be proud of-"

He was cut off as the bus opened and Bucky and Steve entered. Zola frowned and entered with his friend.

Steve and Bucky sat in their usual seats, two from the front on the left side.

"That was close." Steve chuckled.

Bucky pulled up his bag to his lap. "Close."

Steve noticed his bag. "You got a new one?"

"Yeah, Obadiah trashed mine last week, could bare hold a drink bottle."

Steve sat back. "I mean, same," he gestured to his battered old bag from year 4.

Before Bucky could respond, a familiar upbeat voice sat in front of them.

"Hey, kids, how's life," Sam chuckled as he turned around to face them.

"Sam, nice seeing you. How was overseas?" Steve was surprised to see his friend here today.

"I thought you were gonna be a week late," Bucky reminded.

Sam laughed. "Nah, Dad got a thing on so we got back early. Anyways, I asked first,"

Steve sighed with a smile. "Nothing, the usual, you know man,"

"What happened on the bus stop back before? I saw it on the way here." Sam asked.

"Obadiah thought it would be funny to short-circuit the electric fence on Mr. Longley's lawn while we were strolling," Steve explained shortly. "Fried Bucky's bag," he nodded towards Bucky's new one.

"Damn, I missed a lot. Can't wait for school. Heard there's gonna be some new kids?"

"New kid," Bucky corrected. "From Sokovia,"

Sam nodded. "Heard it's a she, maybe a new competitor for you Steve."

"I'm not a prize to be won," Steve sighed jokingly to Sam's comment. "Plus, Thor'll get her attention fast."

"Speaking of the devil," Bucky nodded to the front of the bus.

Thor had just jumped on, sitting across the aisle to Sam. "Hello," he greeted.

"Hey," Steve replied.

"Where's Loki?" Sam asked, eating away at a banana.

"Left early, hit me with a football this morning." Thor shrugged.

Steve left Sam and Thor's conversation and turned to Bucky. "So how're you really doing Buck?"

He glanced at Steve. "The usual."

"You mean with the voices and everything?"

"Sometimes. But it's okay. Nothing I can't handle."

Steve sighed. "Okay. But remember to tell me if it gets worse."

**...SceneChange...**

AVENGERS Academy was sitting in the Autumn breeze. Early comers were spread out on the north sitting area, most likely waiting for their friends to arrive.

Bruce Banner was an early comer, reading a book quietly near the front gate. It wasn't quiet for long as a nice fancy dark car strolled up, with no one other than Tony Stark to exit.

"Bruce! It's been a while," Tony spread his arms in delight.

"How was Paris?" Bruce smiled, closing his book.

"Not bad...Eiffel Tower was a bit shorter than I expected, not much." Tony waved off the question. "Anyways, bigger things, a new kid."

"Yeah, we all got the email from Mr. Fury." Bruce stood up to follow Tony, who had a tendency to walk while he thought.

"Well, she's new, and we...already have a system."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked, confused.

Tony held his bag straps. "You know, We're the smart ones, Steve, Bucky, and Sam are that group, Thor with us, Then there's like Loki, Clint, and Vision, the floaters, then like Natasha, no messing around. That's our group. There is the rest of the year level of course, but that's our big overall group, that have...smaller groups in them."

Bruce frowned. "I know about that, but...you think she'll be part of our group?"

"Well, we have to be prepared. We don't want a squabble about friends and things."

"Like last year?"

"Last year was different," Tony muttered.

Bruce raised his eyes brow. "How? New kid, jealous, a whole new shift of groups, it was a mess, Tony. We all had to take sides."

Tony gave a sigh. "Yeah, well I don't want that to happen again this year."

"Okay...so what's the plan?"

"Um...well Steve will obviously be picked as the guide, so she'll know someone, so chances are, she will be part of our group somehow," Tony thought.

"Okay..." Bruce looked around.

"Oh hey, look at this," Tony jogged around a circle of chairs. Loki was sitting there. "Is your brother here?"

Loki looked up from his book. "No. He's catching the bus."

"Thought so."

"Have you finished the book we were assigned yet?" Bruce asked, realizing he was reading the book.

Loki shook his head. "No, it's really hard to read, I feel sorry for the ones who don't take it seriously."

"Yeah, the whole concept and structure, I had to read it 2 times to actually understand it," Bruce exclaimed.

"I already read it in Year 5," Tony stated.

"Alright, you don't have to boast about your clear genius," Loki joked.

"You'll catch up," Tony smirked.

Loki looked back down at his book to cover his pale face flush a light shade of pink.

"The buses are here," Bruce noted, Tony and Loki turning around to see.

Three buses arrived after another, students pouring out of them.

"Let the games begin," Tony smiled, scanning the crowd for a new face. Instead, he faced a familiar one.

"Out of the way Stark, your ego is blocking the way." Obadiah crossed his arms.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see your tiny IQ from way up here." Tony fumed, stepping aside from his former friend, now an enemy. He had more important things to do.

Obadiah rolled his eyes in annoyance and walked into the school.

"That was a good comeback," Loki commented. "Looking for the new kid?"

"Yeah, he's trying to make sure she doesn't cause a ripple in our expanded group," Bruce explained.

"Well, a ripple can be the start of a tsunami," Loki shrugged, "Making sure last year doesn't happen again?"

Tony looked at him. "Yeah, I'm just...making sure,"

**...SceneChange...**

"Is there a new one?"

"Huh?" Natasha frowned in confusion.

"Your necklace. It's worth at least 26 dollars, and I doubt Mr. I don't want to spend 3 dollars on a soda would buy that," Clint shrugged.

Natasha tiptoed on the edge of the sidewalk. "Yeah, he got annoying. I'm with Stark now,"

Clint choked on his drink. "What?!"

"I'm kidding," she laughed, "It's Wayne Thompson."

"That guy? Are you trying to date everyone?"

"Maybe," she slurped on her milkshake.

"Ten bucks you break up in 2 weeks,"

"Three," she made puppy eyes at him.

"Fine, three weeks. You didn't even spend 3 weeks with Tommy and you guys were like forever buddies."

Natasha sighed as they approached the school. "When will it be my turn to tease you about your love life?"

Clint laughed. "Not for a while,"

"What about the new girl? The new ones are so fun since they know nothing about anyone,"

Clint made a face. "No way, I'm not dating the new girl, I like mine when I know who they are."

Natasha shrugged. "Whatever you want."

**...SceneChange...**

Steve and Bucky waited in front of the Principal's office.

"I'll meet you at recess, okay? Won't be there for first." Steve said.

Bucky nodded. "Yeah, okay. Hope the new girls all cool. Maybe she'll be the one?" he winked at him.

Steve shook his head as he chuckled. "No way, no."

"Well, I'll be waiting," Bucky smiled and turned around to get to class.

Steve smiled back and faced the door.

"Come in," echoed the Principles voice.

Steve entered and gently closed the door. He saw the girl sitting on the couch in front of the Principles desk. "Morning Mr. Fury,"

"Morning Roger, sit," Steve sat down on the same couch. "This is Wanda Maximoff," he introduced.

Steve turned to her. "Steve Rogers, nice to meet you," he held out his hand. She shook it. Steve inspected her quickly. She had straight brown hair, almost ginger, with black features throughout her body, black mascara, nails, necklace, boots, complementary with a red leather jacket.

"You, Rogers, have been chosen to show Miss Maximoff around the school for the first period. I'm sure you'll do your best to help her fit in." Mr. Fury explained, gesturing to the door.

Steve nodded and guided Wanda out. He closed the door behind them.

"Well, Wanda. Are you a local?" he sparked a conversation as they walked down the hallways.

"No." her accent was noticeable. "I'm from Sokovia,"

Steve nodded. "Nice. I'm from Brooklyn. Much more familiar. Did you have some good friends in your old school?"

"No. Many bullies though,"

"Oh," Steve frowned. "Well, there are some here, but you shouldn't be in too much trouble if you stick with the right crowd."

"Who are they? I'm not afraid to fight," she said fiercely.

"Woah, okay. Well, there's Zola, he sucks. He's really smart, not as much as Stark, but he teases everyone else who has anything lower than an A. He's more into emotional and mental attacks."

They turned the corner. "Then there's Obadiah, he...used to be friends with Tony, but he's very violent and he's the one you should avoid. And then Mal. He likes to take advantage of people and force them into doing things."

Wanda frowned. "Okay, well I think I'll notice them when I do."

"Well, this is the second level, so here are all the science rooms and labs, the one above us are the other core subjects like maths or history. The first floor has the homerooms and such. The building over there is for the physical stuff. We'll head there and I'll show you outside."

Steve guided her around. They began walking past the glass cabinets with the trophies, plaques, and certificates. Wanda stopped to look at them.

"Is that you?" she pointed to the football teams winning game group photo.

Steve smiled. "Yeah,"

"You play football?"

"I did. Until I got kicked off the team,"

"You don't seem like the guy who would do anything bad enough to be kicked off," Wanda asked.

Steve looked at the ground. "Well...yeah. I guess. But it's fine now."

"You got the art prize later though," Wanda pointed out. Steve chuckled. "And there's that Stark you mentioned." She placed her finger on the plaque. "He won a solo contest against 57 different schools." She glanced at Steve.

"Yeah, he did. It was pretty amazing, the last task was to work out something Ph.D. level against a year 12. Everyone went bonkers. The rivalry between Strange was even worse." Steve smiled as he told her the fond memory.

"You and Steve were friends?" Wanda asked.

"Were? We still are, just not...as close as before." Steve muttered.

Wanda stared at him for a bit and nodded. "Well, I can't wait to meet him."

Steve showed her out to the gardens. "The first period will be over soon. We normally hang out here."

"We? As in...?"

Steve thought for a moment. "We're a big group. And inside the big group are smaller groups, obviously, which are closer together. And some of us don't fit in anywhere else, so they hang out with us."

Wanda nodded. "Hm. And that boy with long hair who was with you before? Is he a friend?"

"Oh yes. That's Bucky. We've been friends for ages," Steve explained.

Wanda nodded. "Huh. Okay,"

"Let's get to the canteen and meet the others here." Steve began, "If you want to hang out with us of course," he added.

Wanda smiled. "Yeah, why not. Your friends seem nice."

So they headed to the canteen.

**...**

**I accept requests and everything**

**-DJ**


	3. TWO: Somethings Change

Everyone began to collectively appear at the spot Steve pointed out to Wanda.

Tony sat on the low brick wall that separated the circular bench from the garden behind. He had a laptop out as he ate his half-eaten sandwich.

Bruce was sitting on the lower bench, where you were supposed to sit, balancing his book on Tony's foot. Thor was chatting loudly with Clint about football, and Natasha was nowhere to be seen.

Steve and Wanda approached the circle that they left earlier.

"Hey guys, this is the new girl Wanda Maximoff," he introduced. Wanda waved to the group.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Bruce," Bruce replied.

"You seem to be lacking in females," Wanda noticed.

"Natasha should be here soon," Clint stated.

"Probably kissing her new boyfriend. Who is it this time? Luis? Or was it Brian?" Tony laughed, avoiding Steve's glance. "Tony Stark," he gestured to himself, "And this is Thor and Clint," Thor waved.

"Hey, where's your sneaky brother gone to? He pranked Obadiah this morning, I gotta congratulate him on not getting caught," Tony asked the muscular blond.

Thor pointed to the pathway heading towards them. "He's approaching now,"

Loki was walking down to them, with another tall dark haired guy. He had silver highlights and was wearing his signature red scarf.

"Strange," Tony hissed under his breath.

Loki waved goodbye to him as he entered the circle. Strange turned to the left an headed to the library. He paused when he realized there was a new girl.

"I'm Wanda Maximoff, I'm new," she introduced to the boy who had his arms wrapped around a textbook.

"Loki," he held out his hand. She slowly shook it in confusion.

"My brother!" Thor exclaimed when Loki didn't add his last name. Loki glared at him and sat on a rock carved like a seat and read the book in silence.

Wanda nodded slowly. "Brother?"

"Adopted," Clint added.

A pair of familiar laughs entered the earshot of the group.

"Sam, Bucky, you're late," Steve smiled.

"Damn, new girl? Love your look," Sam smiled at Wanda. "Sam Wilson, Steve's left-hand man."

"Thanks? I'm Wanda,"

"And this is Bucky, my right-hand man?" Steve wrapped his arm around Bucky's shoulder.

"It's the only arm he has to spare," Sam joked, patting his left prosthetic arm, as he sat down next to Tony. Bucky fiddled with his shirt.

Wanda nodded slowly. "Well, I'll have to remember all these names,"

"Well mine's not hard to remember, it's on that tower," Tony smirked, nodding to the Stark tower that was next to the academy.

Steve averted his eyes and began to eat his lunch.

**...SceneChange...**

First class? No problem. But maths? With Stephen? No way, Tony thought as he sat on the front seat.

Stephen came early and was sitting on the opposite front corner, leaning forward, his chin buried in his scarf, reading a book.

Tony fumed as a group of girls behind them were audibly talking about Stephen.

He's just got fuzzy hair, with a blush on his cheeks because of his pale face in this autumn wind. The scarf didn't help with his aesthetic, Tony lied to himself. He did look rather attractive right now, with the morning sun shining past his face.

Tony quickly turned to the front when the teacher entered the class in a hurry.

"I'm Mr. Williams, now the rules are simple, no talking as I do the explaining, but you can do whatever you want during the exercise part since any work not done in class is homework! Remember your book work is marked!" Mr. Williams hastily introduced. He began opening his books and his whiteboard marker.

As he wrote equations and such on the board, Tony turned to Stephen. He was ready to beat him in this class. Stephen had slowly put down his book and take out his workbook to take notes.

Tony looked down at his desk. He had already opened his workbook and his pen lay next to his hand.

"Okay. This is Trigonometry. Anyone know how the sides of the triangle are named?" Mr. Williams began.

Stephen shot his hand up. "The longest side is the hypotenuse, the side opposite the angle is called 'O' and the one left is the adjacent side."

"Well done, Stephen,"

Stephen glanced at Tony with an eager look. Tony shrugged.

"Now, trigonometry is used to find the unknown side. Does anyone know the equations to find a ratio?"

Stephen raised his hand. No one else did, not even Tony. "The...uh, to find a ratio, you find out which formula to use, SOH, CAH, or TOA, and fill in the letters with the respective values."

"You forgot about Theta," Tony pointed out.

Stephen frowned at him. "And Theta is the variable for the angle, which you also replace with the angle you have been presented with," he finally added.

Tony didn't look at Stephen but was smugly smiling at the teacher. Stephen glared at his desk.

"Ugh, I won't learn anything with Tony and Stephen in the same class," Loki groaned at the back of the class.

Wanda, who had taken the corner seat, was sitting next to Loki. He was rather strange and Wanda didn't want to interrupt his reading during break. "Why?"

Loki was scribbling in a notebook. "They have a rivalry. Tony was the smartest one here, still is, but Stephen reckons he's better. There are times when he does beat Tony but in different fields. You can't be educated in every subject in the world."

"So, they compete?"

"Yeah, with everything. Tony's trying to get back at him since the Contest last year. Tony was banned from entering it last year, so Stephen won, but not as greatly as Tony." Loki explained.

"At my old school, it was more with the sport," Wanda said.

"Well this isn't any normal school, we don't have P.E unless you applied to attend this school like a normal kid." Loki shrugged.

"I applied as an Enhanced, that's why I left my old school," Wanda tried to explain.

Loki paused his drawing and frowned. "Enhanced? That's a sub-category to 'Specialized'," He took out a drink bottle, opened it and throw it at Wanda.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as it spilled onto her.

"Loki!" Mr. Williams called.

"Sorry Mr. Williams, my hand slipped, I'll go help clean her up," he stood up, placing his hand on her back, to guide her out of the classroom. Mr. William nodded and continued to lecture Stephen and Strange about talking about advanced maths in a year 10 maths class.

"What was that for?" Wanda cried, shoving his water-bottle into his hands.

"Quiet Feisty," Wanda glared at the nickname. Loki led them to a quiet spot in the library. "You applied as an Enhanced?"

"Yeah? Isn't everyone here..."

Loki sat down. "No. You either apply as a To Be Agent or as Specialized. Subcategory to Specialised is either Enhanced or Skilled. Then we are trained specially in our 'P.E.' classes." he made quotation marks in the air on 'P.E.'.

"We?" Wanda frowned.

Loki sighed. "We. Us, our group and everyone else is Specialized."

"Everyone in the group is Specialized?" Wanda asked surprised.

"Yeah, to apply you need an existing skill set." Loki rubbed his forehead. "But most of us aren't Enhanced. Tony's got his mechanics and technology, Natasha and Clint with their skill sets,"

"Who's Enhanced?" Wanda asked.

"Um...they considered Bucky as enhanced, with his arm and with the serum, Steve also, with the serum. Then there's...Vision, he's a cyborg? Who knows, then Thor and I," Loki thought of everyone in their group.

"Serum? What-"

"You can ask them. Just don't be too loud about your application, bullies love that."

"Then I'll fight those..." Wanda held her fits out and some glowing red mist appeared around her hands.

Loki stood up and put down her hands. "No, if you fight them don't use your powers. It's part of the rules, 'No using Skill Sets of Enhancements for one's advantage unless instructed.'"

Wanda stared at him. "Oh...kay well, I'll keep quiet then,"

"Don't worry, you can tell the group, they're Specialized, so it's fine," Loki began to head out of the big library.

Wanda jogged up to him. "Do the others like you?"

Loki was caught off-guard by the question. "What?" he flustered, not having a book to cover his face.

Wanda noticed this. "You're part of the group, I'm assuming because of Thor, but you don't interact much, or visa-versa,"

"Well, we all have history," Loki muttered, turning his face away from her.

Wanda smiled. "Okay, tell me about it,"

Loki glanced at her. "I...um, have a thing. On. Now...called...bathroom," he gave an odd smile and quickly left the library.

Wanda frowned in confusion.

**...SceneChange...**

Steve and Sam were messing around in the hallways as class ended. They were laughing as someone bumped into them.

"Hey," Sam exclaimed.

"Sorry," mumbled the person.

"Loki?" Steve said, recognizing the voice.

Loki looked up at them. His eyes were wet and his eyeliner had begun to run. His cheeks flushed a different shade of red that they already were. "Sorry, um," he lowered his hand and pushed past them and went into the bathroom nearby.

Sam frowned at Steve. He glanced at the bathroom door. "Go without me, tell Miss. Anderson that I'll be late," Sam slowly nodded and ran off.

Steve entered the bathroom. "Loki?"

He was met with a green blast. "What are you doing here," rasped his voice.

Steve rolled over on the ground to get on his feet. "Better not do that again or you'll get caught," Steve said, walking over to him.

Loki glared at him and turned back to the mirror to finish washing his face. "What do you want?"

"What's wrong?"

Loki paused. "Nothing,"

Steve raised an eyebrow as he [assed Loki some paper towels. "Really? Is that why you're in here...like this?"

Loki hesitantly accepted the paper towels and wiped his face. "I...don't know,"

Steve crossed his arms. "Well, what happened?"

Loki grabbed some eye-liner from his pocket and started to apply it. "I was talking to Wanda about the Specialized, and then she asked about something I left..."

Steve paused. Specialized? He ignored it and gave his full attention to Loki. "What did she ask?"

Loki put the cap on his eyeliner. "Why I don't socialize much with the others...I replied it was because of history, and she asked me to tell her about it and- I freaked out- I don't know," he began to hyperventilate again, his breath short and rapid.

"Woah, slow down," Steve placed his arm on his shoulder to calm him down. Loki's breath became normal again.

"I don't know." there was a pause till he spoke again. "Why are you even here? It doesn't matter!" Loki pushed Steve's arm from his shoulder and stared fiercely into his eyes. "You shut up about this or you'll find something nasty in your bed tonight,"

He stormed out of the bathroom and left Steve all confused.

The third period couldn't end faster, thought Natasha as she glared at the clock in the History class. She was busy dealing with one of her exes so she didn't hang out with her friends during recess and she didn't see any of them during the changeover.

The bell rang and she bolted up, stuffing her papers into her bag and ran out before the teacher could say anything.

She made her way to the cafeteria, grabbed her hamburger and ran to the circle.

"Finally, Nat, where were you all day!" Clint exclaimed, pretending to die.

"I was dealing with some small problems," she sighed, plopping herself down next to him.

"Hey Nat, this is Wanda, the new girl," Steve gestured to her.

"Oh hey, I'm Natasha. don't be intimidated by these buffoons, you could take them in one second," she chuckled.

"Hey!" Tony cried from behind his laptop screen.

Wanda smiled. The conversations split into two's then into three, and everyone was bonding again. She turned to Steve.

"Hey Steve, have you seen Loki? He ran out on me when we ditched class," she asked, realizing he was there.

Steve stiffened. "I don't know, saw him briefly during the changeover but not after." He reminded himself to ask Thor about his brother. He remembered Loki mentioned about the Specialized group. "Are you Specialized?"

"Jeez Steve, you can't just ask someone if they're Special," Tony smirked.

"Loki mentioned it," Steve glared at him.

Wanda remembered what Loki said. "Yeah, I'm...Enhanced,"

"Woah cool! Have you got any cybernetic parts?" Tony smiled, looking over his laptop.

"Um, no,"

"Oh, most Enhanced are Cyborgs of some kind or a sick boy like Steve and Bucky," Tony said, disappointed.

Wanda shrugged. "No, I was kidnapped in Sokovia and experimented on. It was soon before we left and came here,"

"Origin stories, sweet," Clint said.

"What was the serum thing, Loki mentioned?" Wanda turned to Steve and Bucky, who had realized the conversation turned to them.

Steve smiled. "Well, I was a rather medically problematic child in the past, so the doctors tested a serum on me, which worked and made me stronger and healthy." He turned to Bucky. "And Bucky..."

Bucky tilted his head to Wanda. "I got into an accident which weakened me, where I also lost my arm, the same serum was used to make me live,"

Wanda nodded, "That's really cool," She turned around as she heard a laugh.

"Aw, poor Bruce, jealous of the Specialized?" taunted a person Wanda had never met before.

"Aw, is Mal sad he got his ass kicked last week?" Clint made a face.

"No one insults Bruce," Natasha growled.

"You need some of the Specialised to protect your geeky weak self?" Mal laughed, deflecting an empty can thrown by Clint.

"Bruce would beat you at every other subject Mal, your report card didn't look pretty did it?" Thor stood up, glaring at Mal.

"Awww," Mal continued to mess around, as he ran off with his friends.

"Ignore him, Bruce, he's an idiot," Thor comforted, sitting back down.

"He's the only one not in Specialized," Steve told Wanda, filling her in.

"And that jerk is?" she looked disgusted.

"Yeah..." Bruce shrugged.

**...SceneChange...**

The first day had been okay. Not bad, Tony thought, as his car rolled back up to the school. I wonder if the second day would be more interesting. At least today has Specialized Skilled Combat class.

He got out of his car and entered the campus. Not many people were there yet, as it was still pretty early. He glanced around as he tried to find Bruce or someone he knew. It wasn't soon before he spotted Stephen talking to another girl, who was facing her back to him.

He walked up to them. "Hey Lokes, isn't that dress violating the 'mid-thigh' dress code?" he smirked, inspecting the girl.

She crossed her arms. "I'm wearing bike shorts underneath that are mid-thigh that are visible," she replied, shifting her standing position.

Tony raised his eyebrow. "I don't think the bike shorts are at mid-thigh either,"

"Come on Tony, she's violated many other dress codes before, at least today she's only breaking one," Stephen stared, annoyed at Tony's presence.

Tony cocked his head and examined Loki. It was true, she had a simple black dress on, maybe a bit too short, but even though it had open shoulder straps, she was wearing a dark green top underneath. His eyes fell to her footwear. Even her boots were just under the knee and had less than one-inch heels.

He fumed. "Fine, but no leather!" he reminded, still making eye contact. He pointed to the leather bracelets she was wearing. She made a face and stuck out her tongue.

He laughed out loud and continued to walk down the pathway.

Loki fiddled with the leather bracelets. "Anyway, are you triple-sure you can't lend me any books from the sanctum?"

Stephen shook his head. "As I said before, those books can't be read by anyone unless the Supreme Sorceress approves."

Loki frowned playfully at him. "Alright, I'm still more powerful,"

Stephen widened his eyes with a smile. "You think?"

"Who beat you in Specialized Combat Skills last year?"

Stephen chuckled. "Who beat you in Enhanced Combat Skill?" He made a gesture at himself.

Lok laughed. "Fine, but that's because Thor decided it would be funny to give me a concussion the period before," she defended herself.

Stephen made a disapproving shake of his head. "Whatever you believe,"

Loki was about to jokingly tackle Stephen when a familiar voice came up.

"Hello?" It was Wanda. She had her bag slung around her shoulder and was standing in front of them.

Loki let go of Stephen's shoulders. "Oh, um, have you met Stephen properly yet?"

Wanda nodded, staring at Loki with an unfocused gaze. "Uh...yes, yesterday we were early to class..." She snapped back and glanced at Stephen then Loki. "But, have I met you...?"

Loki grinned when she realized Wanda was confused. "Haha, yeah you have." She held out her hand again. "Loki Odinson," she introduced herself again.

Wanda gaped and she found herself staring at Loki's chest and thin waist. "Wha...?"

Stephen hid a laugh with a cough. Loki awkwardly changed her position again. "Uh, yeah..."

The tension broke when the loud voice of Thor entered the atmosphere. "Sister, you left me again this morning, I had to take the bus with Steve again,"

Loki made his famous smirk frown. "Is that really a punishment?"

Tony and Bruce were behind Thor. Tony was chatting to him with his phone out, explaining something. The paused when Thor had stopped.

Tony looked past Loki and frowned. "Hey Loki, check your six,"

Loki turned around to find a group of guys smirking and whispering at her from a few meters back. "Hey, nice ass!" They exploded into a fit of laughter.

Her face went red as she turned back around covering her face.

"Go to Hel-" Thor's thundering voice began but Bruce pulled him back.

Wanda frowned. The leading guy suddenly got a fist in the jaw as Natasha came up from behind and punched him. The guy fell backward as the other three fell silent. They saw her say something inaudible and begin making her way over to them.

Steve and Bucky followed.

"Nice punch," Tony commented.

"Thanks," Loki murmured, fiddling with her own fingers. She glanced up at Nat and smiled.

"Those idiots had it coming a mile away," Natasha smirked.

She, Steve, Bucky and the rest of the group began to walk inside. Soon it was just Stephen, Loki and Wanda left.

Stephen switched a glance between the two and paused at Loki. "So, I'll make it to class now. See you in class," he gave a quick wave and made his way inside.

Loki smiled back and turned to Wanda, where she began to shuffle her feet and avoided eye-contact.

Wanda frowned with a smile. "Hey, it's fine,"

Loki's eyes began to blink rapidly as she frowned as well. "Really-y? I mean, thanks?" she answered flustered.

Wanda leaned back a bit and paused for a moment. "Just a question," she gestured to her chest area and glanced down there. "Is that magic or-r?"

Loki broke into a smiled. "Magic. Obviously," she laughed and glanced at the ground. "How else would I hide this fabulousness?"

Wanda chucked. "Haha, okay...um, see you in class then...Loki," she pursed her lips and entered the big building.

Loki stood in front of the double doors for a while before nodding and entering.


	4. THREE: Fights And Secrets

**Clint Barton's POV:**

Specialized Classes are the best. They're a bit confusing at first since there are multiple Combat classes and such, but that's because of the sub-category.

I'm a Skilled, but I could easily take down shy Stephen Strange anyway. Oh wait, I have, I beat many times in Specialised Combat Skills Class.

We have Specialized Combat today, the first period too. I then have a Skilled Situation Class next. Enhanced doesn't have a Situations class, because their 'powers' would get them out of any situations.

But, I love this class. All of my friends are in it, except Bruce, he's got Basic Defence first since he applied as a To Be Agent at SHIELD Academy.

I jumped on the bleachers next to Thor and sat down. The gym's windows were open, so the morning sun shone inside the Combat's gym. The Enhanced has a 'different' hall since theirs have to be equipped with different things when their using their Enhanced abilities.

Before I get to talk, Mrs. Adams begins. "Alright, class. I know everyone likes this class because you get to punch things. But everyone also seems to forget the rules. So, I shall repeat them again for you.

"Since it is year 9 for you, you get to use sharp weapons this year, not the blunt ones. You cannot use a weapon, unless you are wearing all the guards, including the arm braces and torse cover that will protect you against sharp blades.

"Only attack when told to do so. Any other engagement will end in detention and if repeated, two-week detention during the class.

"Since this is 'Specialized' Combat Skills Class, the Enhanced are here too, so those who are, the rules for your powers elsewhere apply here too. No usage of enhancements to one's advantage unless instructed, which I will not do since this class is to prep you for situations without your powers." Mrs. Adams crossed her arms.

We get to use sharp blades this year. Al the previous years I had to use blunt staff's and mostly focused on hand to hand combat, which I guess is the point.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get to my bow and arrows. I can only use that in Skills Combat Classes, without the Enhanced, where we specialize and focus on our individual skill sets. But we have that tomorrow.

Everyone began to get up and I followed, not knowing what we were doing. When we headed to the locker rooms, I realized we were getting our protective gear on, so we couldn't stab Malekeith or Obadiah.

I followed Thor in and got to my locker. Sam's door banged into mine as we both opened ours. Our lockers had been set up with all the new equipment.

"Oh, I'm so excited for this, we're going to actually use weapons this time. Maybe I'll be able to beat Steve," Sam laughed, strapping in one of the arm braces.

The arm braces were covering in a chainmail-like leather, that would protect us from any blades. "Yeah, maybe get in some wins over the Enhanced,"

"Some of them are rather good at Combat though, without their powers," Sam shrugged, adding the leg armor.

"Like Loki, Thor and that?" I replied, buckling in the torse cover, that fitted neatly over my shoulders and waist. "I know, I got my arse kicked last year by Loki,"

"I heard some kids were bothering her this morning," Sam asked, tightening his gloves.

"Yeah, I heard that too. I was too busy getting late to school to see it. apparently 'Tasha got them nicely in the jaw,"

"Deserved it, those little-" Sam was interrupted by Mrs. Adams yelling at someone to tighten their gear.

"Let's go," I muttered, grabbing my gloves and running out with Sam. We lined up side by side and listened for instructions.

"So, we must all be able to adapt. Fighting a new enemy? They're more powerful? Enhanced maybe? Well, you should be able to adapt and fight, even if you might get beaten, you have a chance to survive.

"Some of you maybe have used some of these weapons before in Skills Combat as your specialization, but others have not. Today, we will give you some random weapons, and you will attempt to take down your partner."

Mrs. Adams pointed in front of a box for us to line up in front of to receive out weapons. "After you get them, come over here to get partnered and then go find a mat, but don't fight yet," she called as we all loudly lined up.

"Ah Nat, you're gonna kick everyone's ass, you're almost specialized in every weapon," Tony groaned.

"Get what you get," Nat smirked.

I crossed my arms as the line grew shorter. "I hope I get a sword or something and get partnered with one of the bullies. I'll get them,"

"Jeez Clint, it's the second day," laughed Thor, "Calm down, I'll get to them first,"

**Third POV:**

A little lower in the line, Bucky and Steve were waiting. Loki was behind them, crossing her arms in annoyance since she got pushed so she ended up so back in the line.

"How did we end up so far down the line?" Bucky complained.

"They got there first," Steve started, "And they pushed us,"

Bucky groaned. "We need to do something about thee guys. They've done nothing apart from attacking us, and it's the second day,"

Steve sighed. "We can't do much apart from beat them at Combat,"

"Who do you think will get detention from going too far today?" Bucky raised his eyebrows.

Steve frowned and turned to Loki. "I bet it'll be you,"

Loki gave a lopsided grin. "Only if I get paired with an-" Someone pushed her from behind and she stumbled onto Steve.

He caught her and helped her regain her balance. "Hey," he began as Loki grimaced. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry, 'she' distracted me," laughed Mal.

Steve stood up a bit straighter and stared at him. "No need for contact,"

Loki stood next to Bucky. "Steve, just ignore them," she stepped forward to try and calm Steve down.

"You don't disrespect anyone like that, not 'anyone'," Steve said, staring him down.

Mal elevated his chin. "Oh really? Show me how," he stepped forward and so did Steve, simultaneously. He was about to take another step but Loki placed her foot in between, causing Mal to trip over. Steve stepped to the side and he fell on his face,

Bucky, Steve, and Loki quickly hurried and cut in front. "That was close," Bucky gasped.

"It was almost you that get detention today," Loki laughed, letting go of his hand, her face still a light pink from the short encounter.

They turned to the front as they approached the box of weapons.

Steve got handed a war hammer, with a sharp end. He made an 'oh well' face at the others and advanced to Mrs. Adams to get paired.

Bucky stepped forward and accepted a sword and joined Steve with Mrs. Adams.

Loki fidgeted with the strands of her loose hair as she was given a bow and 3 arrows. She made a face at the assistant and walked to the others.

The moment she faced Mrs. Adams she paired him up with Tony. What luck, she thought with a sigh as they found an empty mat next to Clint and another student.

Loki shrugged as she showed him the bow and elevated her eyebrows with amusement when he showed her his Japanese war fan. Loki tightened the strap of the quiver that held three miserable blunt arrows and placed the bow between her knees as she took a hair tie off her wrist.

"Shut up," Loki murmured at Tony when he gave her a quizzical smile when her hair fell out of the quick bun into a ponytail.

They turned to Mrs. Adams as she began to speak again. "Remember, if you are more of an expert with your partner's weapons, you are welcome to help teach them how to use it, this is learning session, not a way to get away with punching someone. Remember the Rules of Combat, and go!"

Everyone turned to their partners and began.

"What?" Tony teased, gripping the short staff.

Loki spun the bow and shrugged. "I dunno, you tell me,"

**...SceneChange...**

Stephen frowned at Wanda. He had simple brass knuckles and she had a full-on ax. They must've given me brass knuckles since I wasn't the best at hand-to-hand combat, he thought to himself.

"Okay, let's go," Wanda said awkwardly when Mrs. Adam gave the all clear. She held up the ax and sidestepped and tried to swing at his legs. He rolled forward but tumbled a bit to the left and fell open on his back.

While Wanda hesitated to what she should do next, he tried to roll over but she'd chosen to place the ax handle on his neck and pinned him down. Stephen tried to move but he was stuck.

Wanda was sweating already. "What do I do know?" She didn't know the Rules of Combat.

"Hold me down for ten seconds," he answered, punching her in the side, causing her to loosen her grip so he could push her over and exchange positions.

Now Stephen was on top, holding down the handle on her chest. "No knowingly potential fatal attacks," he held the handle in place.

Wanda shifted a bit, trying to wiggle away, but then hoisted her knee up, hitting him in his thigh. He bent back a bit and she knocked the ax into his headgear, leading him to fall to the side.

She stood up and was going to lock him again by swinging the ax around his head to make him turn over to his chest but he moved to fast and punched behind her knees and she fell down, kneeling.

He swung around her and put her in a headlock. "And last-rule, don't ignore the tap,"

**...SceneChange...**

Bucky had his chest pressed on the mat. Malekeith was on his back, his knee on his neck with the Kusari-Gama's chain around both his wrists. The Kusari-Gama had a block of metal on one end of the chain and a round blade on the other.

"Six, five, four," Mal counted down.

Bucky groaned. His arm creaked and he pulled on the chain. But that's all it did.

"Two...ONE! I beat you, once weak, always weak," sneered Mal as he let go of the block end of the chain and stood up.

Bucky hissed as he did a quick push up to turn around and lie on the group. He turned around as he heard the familiar grunts of Steve Rogers fighting someone nearby. He watched him swing the battle hammer at Thor.

Bucky groaned as he crawled to the sword he dropped earlier and sat down to watch the battle. At this point, many people had finished and were watching the last few.

Steve tried to slide past Thor and pull him down with the ax, but Thor dropped the dagger he was given and grabbed the handle of the hammer and pulled Steve up.

"Hello," he grinned as he took off his grip and spun him around the hammer, locking his arm in the handle and placed him the ground. Ten seconds of Steve struggling to get out of the lock passed and Thor let go. "Go try,"

Steve shook his head and a laugh. "Good fight," he glanced over at Bucky. He shrugged back. Steve's attention was driven to Tony and Loki's fight.

They were the last ones up. Tony was hiding behind the bleachers. "They never said we couldn't run!" he yelled, as he dodged Loki's last arrows. He began to sprint when Loki ran towards him.

Tony ran along the bleachers but Loki continued to the point where his arrows missed and grabbed it as she continued to run after him.

Tony aimed at some of the ropes from the ropes course tied up at the end of the bleachers and grabbed one as Loki caught up.

"Woah," Tony muttered, as he swung back down onto the mats and grabbed the short staff he dropped as he jumped. Loki also jumped, but she didn't grab the ropes, and landed on Tony's shoulders, fell on the ground, taking Tony with him as he put the arrow around his neck.

Loki was sprawled on the ground, Tony on top of him with the arrows under his chin, and Loki was using her feet to hold down one of his arms and his legs. Tony was still squirming, trying to whack Loki with his free arm.

"Ten, nine," Loki began as she replaced the arrow with a headlock and used her now free arm to grab his wrist. They stayed like that for the rest of the eight seconds.

"One," Loki finally said, losing her muscles, letting Tony sit up again.

"Woo, yes sister!" Thor cheered.

"Alright, the show's over, everyone line back up!" Mrs. Adams started up again. Everyone lined up again and was given more instructions.

After a few drills and practices, everyone headed to the locker rooms to take off their gear and get changed.

Wanda, Natasha, and Loki made their way to their lockers. Loki paused in front of the doors.

"What's wrong?" Natasha asked, waiting for her.

Loki glanced at the boy's locker room. "Well, I don't have a locker in there anyway, so I'll just take off the gear here, and pass it to one of the guys to put it in my locker."

Natasha nodded. "Alright then...see you at recess," She and Wanda entered the locker rooms.

Loki placed her headgear on the bench and began to loosen the straps to the guards.

Natasha finished stuffing her gear into her locker and took out her jacket to put on. "I can't believe people actually wear impractical clothing when we have Combat. They just waste time getting dressed in 'Atheltic' clothes,"

Wanda tied her necklace in place. "So, how long has Loki been...you know?"

Natasha glanced at her. "How long she's been genderfluid? Who knows, but she told us in Year 7 but didn't physically change until she came out to the entire school,"

Wanda closed her locker door. "Huh, that's cool. And those other students are still pestering her?"

Natasha nodded. "Yeah, there's always a few," she put her hands in her pockets. "Anyways, let's head out,"

They both left the locker room. Loki wasn't outside so they continued towards the usual hang out spot.

**...SceneChange...**

"Is Loki here?" Natasha asked as she sat down next to Clint.

"Nope. Haven't seen him since Combats," Bruce answered, eating his sandwich.

Natasha looked at Thor. He shrugged. "I don't know where she is, she wasn't here yesterday lunch so,"

This reminded Steve of yesterday. "Hey, Thor, do you want to go look for her? I think she said she needed to find you at some point," He made a 'come one' motion as he stood up.

"Okay," Thor said, getting the message.

As they began to walk down the path towards the classrooms, Steve started to inquire Thor. "How's Loki at home?"

"What do you mean? She is the usual," Thor was confused.

Steve sighed. "Um...does she seem okay at home? Like, does she act the same at home as she does at school?"

Thor blinked in confusion. "Uh...yes? These are confusing questions, what's going on?"

"Um," Steve stopped walked as he stopped Loki about to enter the bathroom.

"Loki! We were just talking about you! Why weren't you at the circle?" Thor asked, approaching his sister.

Loki stepped back, closing the door. "Um, I was doing something else?" His eyes darted from Steve to his brother.

"Well, let's go back to the others," Thor gestured to the doors.

"Um, I'm busy, so I'll go this way," Loki was about to turn but Steve called after him.

"Where are you going exactly?"

Loki paused. "To...Stephen," There were moments of staring till Thor said something.

"Well, alright. Come on Steve," Thor began to leave. Steve frowned and Loki who stared blankly back before he jogged after Thor. "So what was all that?" Thor asked.

"I... don't know myself," Steve sighed rubbing his forehead.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be okay," Thor smiled, entering the circle. Steve gave a small smile before sitting next to Sam.

"Did you find her?" Sam asked, picking at his salad.

"Yeah, she was busy looking for Stephen,"

"I had maths with Stephen and Tony yesterday, they were bickering about advanced maths and Mr. Williams got mad," Bucky remembered.

"I wish they got along, like Tony and Bruce," Sam mentioned.

"I guess they have similar personalities, that's why they rival against each other," Bucky said, poking Sam with a fork.

"Hey!"

The three were sitting on a picnic table Thor moved there years ago, which was placed on one side of the circle, whereas on the other side, there was a table in a semicircle shape, aligning with the stone seats.

Steve turned around to face the others and gritting his teeth in remorse. Ever since last year, the line between the small groups had gotten stronger. He watched as Thor was braiding Natasha's hair, while he was playing slaps with Clint.

His eyes found themselves watching Tony fiddle with the inside of his phone. Steve firmed his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut and leaned forward as he covered his face with his hands.

"You good?" Bucky asked, noticing. He placing and hand on his shoulder. Sam stopped messing around.

Steve looked up again and smiled at him. "Nah I'm fine, just tired,"

"From getting beat up by Thor?" joked Sam. Steve laughed but found himself staring at Tony again. Bucky frowned and went back to poking Sam.

**...SceneChange...**

Loki fumbled with the books as she placed some back in. She jumped as she heard someone speak to her suddenly.

"I heard from Thor that you were looking for me?" Stephen asked, picking up the books Loki dropped.

She froze. "Um, no it doesn't matter now,"

Stephen cocked his head. "Really? Tell me anyway," he passed her the book.

She took it and placed it on the shelf and glanced around. "I...uh, wanted to say a good job on beating Wanda?" she said the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh, thanks?" Stephen looked at the section sign. "Why are you looking through the romance fiction section? I thought you were more non-fiction type?"

Loki's face tinged with a faint pink. "Um, I..."

"Tell the truth this time," Stephen said, directing his eye contact to her.

Loki crossed her arms awkwardly as she shifted position. "Um, what do you mean 'this time'?"

Stephen gave a coy smile. "You're nervous of course you're lying. Why are you in this section? It's just a question,"

Loki gave up. She held a downward gaze and averted her eyes from him. "I-I was looking for romance tips," she muttered. "Friends aren't a good way to get them, you know since I don't have any-"

Stephen frowned with a broad grin. "Loki wanted advice on romance?"

Loki paused her stuttering and glowered. "Quiet, don't tell anyone, especially Thor or Natasha,"

Stephen was still grinning. "It's fine. And hey, what do you mean you don't have friends? What am I?"

Loki coughed. "Sorry, I don't know what I doing,"

Stephen laughed, "It's fine, I'm kidding. Come on," he led him to the pair of single couches at the end of the aisle.

They sat down and Loki was staring out of the window, avoiding Stephen's gaze.

Stephen fixed his hair and got Loki's attention back. "So...who is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Loki mumbled.

"Who do you like? I doubt you were trying to help someone else when you were looking for tips," Stephen maintained eye-contact.

Loki paused. "It's a guy,"

Stephen rolled his eyes, "Yeah you came out last year, give me more important details," his voice hinted excitement.

Loki frowned at him and flushed red again. "He's smart,"

"Good..."

"And arrogant," Loki stared at Stephen.

He made a face. "Is he in our year level?"

"Yeah,"

"In the group?"

"...I guess,"

Stephen smirked, "Now let's see who it is," he rubbed his hands.

Loki made a face. "No, you're not going to guess who it is!"

Stephen chuckled. "Alright fine, but what advice do you even what? You're pretty good at the romance stuff,"

Loki tilted her head. "Right, but who'd want to date me anyway,"

"What do you mean? You're full of great qualities," Stephen's eyes narrowed.

Loki leaned on the lean-rest. "Remember when I attacked Zola with flying knives and got suspended?" Stephen nodded. Loki kept staring out the window. "Well, I also had to go to the counselor to get 're-evaluation' because of my sudden mood change."

"Wasn't it because they suspected you had 'anger issues' or something?" Stephen frowned.

Loki held her empty stare out of the window. 'That's what I told everyone, but really they said I might have Borderline Personality Disorder,"

Stephen paused. "What's that?"

Loki glared at him. "It means I'm emotionally unstable, insecure, impulsive and have impaired social relationships." her tone went higher.

"That's...recited from a textbook isn't it?" Stephen asked, thoughts running through his head.

"Ugh, yes? It means I suck at being a person," she stood up and began to walk off.

"Hey wait," Stephen ran after her. "Does anyone else know?"

Loki stared him in the eyes. "No, and no one will. Having weak and damaged relationships is part of it," she hissed, pushing his arm off her and walked off.

Stephen stood still for a while, processing what just happened. He turned and walked to the Health and Relations section to do some research.


	5. FOUR: Memories That Hurt

**Steve's' POV:**

Every day I went by without thinking about it. But when Bruce told me Tony was taking precautions to make sure what happened last year didn't happen this time when Wanda came, thoughts kept resurfacing.

I walked through the halls of the school, past the crowds on the third day of school. It felt like I'd been here all year already, old habits came over me again.

Last year's dilemma rarely entered the conversation, it was almost as if it didn't happen. But it did.

The emotions and thoughts that I'd locked up were opening up again, but I lost the key.

"Hey, Steve," Bucky smiled, leaning against the locker next to mine, waiting for me.

"Hello," I opened my locker and placed my bag on the hook and began to take out my English books.

"How's your day been so far?" Bucky asked.

"Alright, it's still morning, so there's plenty time for it all to go downhill," I shrugged, with a smile.

"Did you hear someone graffitied Tony's Trophy?" Bucky stood aside as I closed the door.

"No, what happened?" I frowned.

"We all think it was either Obadiah or Zola, even Stephen was riled up about it. It was there this morning," Bucky explained as we headed down the hallway.

"What's Tony doing about it?" He would probably be ready to make assumptions and punch.

Bucky sighed. "He was mad when he saw it, but I think he's gonna try and find out who it was,"

Steve pursed his lips. If this happened last year, we would've teamed up and made a list of suspects. The others would've joined and it would've turned into a fun game. But now, Tony wouldn't include him into it.

**...SceneChange...**

**Stephen's POV:**

I watched as Tony was ranting to no one about the Trophy. It was just us in the hallway, the trophy case in front of us.

"I bet it was Zola, he didn't even make it into the top three," Tony continued to talk.

"It was two years ago, why are you even making a fuss," Obadiah appeared around the corner.

"Was it you, you little-" I held Tony back from charging at him.

Obadiah held up his hand as if to calm him down. "No, why would I want to ruin an already disgusting prize?"

"Just go away," I ordered firmly. Tony was already provoked, and last time he was provoked by Obadiah, he blasted him into a tree.

"Oh look, the two rivals, with your big brains..." Obadiah smirked. "You both think you're so smart, but you're just arrogant,"

I loosened my grip on Tony. He didn't charge. 'Smart'. 'Arrogant'. The two words rang a bell in my mind. Loki.

"Yeah that's right, we're smarter than all of you combined," Tony yelled, as the group walked back around the corner. "It's as if they just came down here to mess with me," he looked at me. "What's up? You look like you were actually offended by his insult,"

I didn't respond. 'Smart.' 'Arrogant'. My mind was thinking about something.

"Stephen?"

My mind faded back into reality. "Yeah? Sorry, I zoned out,"

Tony squinted. "You were talking while you think again,"

I froze. "What did I say?" I began to freak out. If I said anything about Loki-

"You were just muttering 'Loki', 'Smart' and 'Arrogant' over and over. Is Loki smart and arrogant too?" Tony was rather confused. He was looking up from his shortness. "Hey Wizard, you listening?"

I blinked down at him. "Oh, um, thanks?"

Tony frowned. "What's up, you're troubled. What wrong with Loki?" When I didn't answer, he pushed me into an empty classroom. "Stephen," he hissed, "Snap out of it,"

I fell back on one of the tables. "Sorry," I ran my fingers through my hair and looked up at him. His face was flushed. "I remembered something Loki told me," I stood back up.

"What'd he say?" Tony frowned.

His messy hair and red blotchy face made me squint as my heart raced. "Uh...secret,"

Tony chuckled. "I'm Tony Stark, you can tell me anything," he made a presentation with his arms.

I shook my head. "No, I promised I wouldn't say,"

"Well if it's bothering you," Tony began with his know-it-all tone.

"Since when did you care about me?" I left my mouth open a bit, with my heart rate increasing.

Tony turned his head away, with a dimpled smiled, "Uh, ha, I don't know, maybe since I was human," he turned his head back to me.

The empty classroom was grey, the big windows had the cold morning's sun rays coming through them. One of the rays landed neatly on Tony's face, creating a sparkle in his eyes.

I made a sound which caused Tony to frown. "You alright?"

I coughed, "Yeah, I'm fine," I ran my fingers through my har again. There was an awkward silence before Tony spoke again.

"Well, I'll...head off to class," he said, sidestepping out the classroom. "See you," and he disappeared.

I found myself letting out a gasp from a breath I didn't know I was holding. I let myself catch my breath and then also left the classroom.

That was close.

**...SceneChange...**

**Tony's POV:**

The first period was boring, we were looking at the 'basics' of mechanics. I was all the way up to super-advanced on that subject. Too bad Stephen wasn't there, I would've crushed him.

I was walking by myself down the corridor when I spotted Wanda at the pin board. "What're you doing?" I asked, approaching her.

She turned around, surprised. "Oh, I'm signing up for the Dungeons And Dragons Club,"

I smirked at the board game. "Okay," I looked at the board. It was filled with the usual, but many old pamphlets and sign up sheets were underneath the more recent ones, the ones no one bothered to throw out.

I frowned and moved aside some and found what I thought I'd seen through the 'Chess club' sign up sheet. I slowly unpinned it and stared at it.

"The Avengers?" Wanda read the signup sheet. I'd forgotten she was there. "What's that?"

"A Club that closed down last year," I muttered, looking at the old sheet I'd designed. The names were written underneath in everyone's writing, but the bottom was missing, torn off. My lips wobbled as I felt my heart-beat increase.

I stumbled back and leaned against the wall.

"Tony! Are you alright?" Wanda's panicked voice echoed in my ears. My arms shook, and my eyes could see the pamphlet through the foggy tears that had accumulated in my eyes anymore. I squinted as I tried to comprehend my thoughts, but instead, I saw memories.

'_"The entries are closed," I tried to explain. "Fury said we had to be more careful with our activities,"_

_"But it's not fair, Bucky signed up last week," Steve answered._

_"I know, you think I want this? It's clear he's your friend, but he can't be in it, auditions were this week, and Fury called it off." I sighed, Steve was being irrational._

_"It even says here Bucky signed up earlier," Steve took off the sheet from the board._

_"Well if you're so insistent, go to Fury yourself," I was getting annoyed._

_"I will," He stormed off past me, leaving Bucky covering his face with embarrassment from the scene Steve caused. _

_As Steve passed, I grabbed the sheet from him, but not completely from his grip. "It stays on the board," I fumed._

_"Fine," Steve glared at me, letting go of the sheet. As I watched him walk towards Fury's office, the corner was ripped, hanging by less than a centimeter. I tore off the rest in anger, taking off Steve and Bucky's name on the sheet._

_It was the start of the fight.'_

I snapped my eyes open as I let out rapid breaths. I opened my eyes to Steve, the last person I wanted to see.

I tried to speak but Steve silenced me. "Shh, just breathe normally, pace your breaths," he said in a calming voice.

I leaned back against the wall, slowing down my breaths. My body was still shaking. I averted my eyes from Steve. I made out Bucky, Sam, and Wanda in the background. I frowned and tried to blink my eyes clear.

Instead, the tears that were blurring my vision fell down my cheeks. I tried to wipe them away but did it first, with the hem of his jacket. I mumbled multiple uncomprehensive things that made no sense.

"Do you want me to get the nurse," Sam asked.

"No," I finally said something in English.

"Are you sure?" Steve asked, kneeling down.

I got to my knees and tried to stand up. "Yeah, I'm okay," I scrunched up the pamphlet behind my back and shook my head. "Yeah, I'm fine," I took a deep breath and smiled into his eyes.

His blue eyes. I could feel myself falling again but I chucked the ball of paper in the bin that was now behind me. I saw his eyes see me throwing it out but I ignored it.

"Thanks anyway," I faced Wanda. "Good luck on the Dungeons And Dragons," I made finger guns at her and walked towards the front doors to exit the school building into the gardens. I headed towards the circle, not looking back.

The moment I knew I was out of sight, I turned a sharp left and sprinted towards the court bathrooms.

**...SceneChange...**

**Third POV:**

Steve stared blankly after him.

"What was that?" Sam asked, bewildered by the whole experience.

"An anxiety attack I think," Bucky answered, crossing his arms. "I wondered what triggered it,"

Steve turned around to the bin and carefully picked out the scrunched up ball of paper. "This," He opened it up and froze.

"What is it?" Bucky asked.

"It was an Avengers Sign-up sheet, whatever that is," Wanda replied. "It had most of the names of the group on it,"

Steve mumbled something inaudible and dropped it back in the bin.

"You think that was what caused it?" Sam asked, glancing inside the bin.

Steve rubbed his eyes, which ended in him covering his face with his eyes. "I don't know," he groaned. "I'll be back, go to the group but don't say anything," he ordered, running out of the building.

**...SceneChange...**

Tony slammed the bathroom door open. He deflected an empty can of soda. "What?"

"Sorry, just reflexes," Loki answered, looking back at the mirror, fixing his hair up.

Tony sighed and also went to the mirror, to see if he had any after effects on his face.

Loki glanced at him through the mirror. "What happened? You look like a mess," His blushed and tried to restate his comment. "Like, you look fine, but your-r eyes-sorry,"

"It's fine," Tony mumbled, washing his eyes. Loki was silent and stared at him cleaning up. "What are you looking at?"

Loki's face changed shades. "I-"

Tony rubbed his face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just tired,"

Loki nodded slowly. "That's...okay," he turned back to his mirror.

Tony began fixing his hair. "Stephen and I were talking this morning,"

Loki frowned. "What'd he say?"

"Well, he didn't say anything at first. Obadiah called us smart and arrogant and he turned into a mumbling mess. So, I pushed him into an empty classroom and asked him why he kept mumbling 'arrogant', 'smart', and your name over and over," Tony explained the events of the morning.

Loki went white. "What'd he then say?"

"That it was a secret. That's it. But he seemed flustered," Tony shrugged, remembering Stephen's sudden weird behavior. "It was weird,"

Loki's eyes widened. "Okay-y,"

Tony turned to him. "What was it about anyway?" he asked.

Loki shook his head. "Oh nothing, we were...talking about something the other day,"

"What things?" Tony smirked. "It was like he realized something when Obadiah called us smart and arrogant,"

Loki suddenly let out a groan. "Oh I know what he realized," he leaned on the counter and covered his face with his hands.

Tony slowly frowned. "What did he...realize?"

Loki shook his head. "Secret,"

"Oh come on with the secrets," Tony cried, "I'm trustworthy!"

Loki chuckled under his breath. "I know,"

"Then the only reason I shouldn't be told the secret is because I'm part of it," he fumed. His eyebrows raised at Loki, implying something.

Loki narrowed his eyebrows and smirked. "There are other reasons,"

Tony made puppy eyes. "Please..."

Loki pursed his lips. "No, I can't Tony,"

Tony was about to say something when the bathroom door opened. They both turned to the door, where Steve was standing.

"Woah what are you doing here?" Tony asked. Loki frowned in confusion.

"Tony I just want to talk," Steve panted.

"Well I know what you want to talk about, and I don't want to talk about it," Tony replied harshly.

Steve stared at him blankly. "Please,"

Tony stared back. "I can't, and I won't," he finally said and stormed past Steve.

Steve groaned and sighed. He glanced up at Loki. "Sorry for interrupting,"

"It's...fine?" Loki responded, still confused.

**...SceneChange...**

The end of the day came fast, and Steve realized Tony was avoiding him. He tried to ignore it, but the thoughts kept pestering him.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and began to head out of the building. As he was walking he felt someone tug on his back. Since he was still so tense from the day, out of reflex, he spun around and pin them down.

"Jeez Rogers, I just wanted to apologize, not get killed," Tony groaned, looking up at Steve from the ground.

Steve's face was centimeters above Tony's, holding his arm in a lock. "Sorry, I was just a bit jittery," he loosened the lock and knelt back.

Tony sat up but didn't stand up. "So now that we're on the same level," Tony placed his hand on Steve's shoulder and gently pushed him down to sit on his butt rather than on his knees. "I just wanted to say sorry for storming out in the bathroom. I guess I was also a bit jittery,"

"Are we going to talk about the actual incident?" Steve asked hopefully.

Tony shook his head, now getting to his feet. "Nope," he held out his hand.

Steve glanced at him then to his hand. He took and they both stood up. "Alright, but then I want to be clear with you. I..." his eyes blinked rapidly. "Tony, I miss you," he blurted out, surprised at what he said.

Tony blinked in surprise. "Um,-"

Steve continued, stumbling on his words. "I tried to ignore what happened, and we kinda just ignored each other, and since our friends made up to each other, we kind of were in the same group, but we still had this unspoken thing between us,"

Tony held his hand up for him to stop. "If it's unspoken, why are you speaking about it?" Steve had a blank expression on as he froze. Tony laughed and his eyes flickered between the ground and around Steve. "I'm kidding, I think I miss you too," he calmed down and tilted his head slightly down, but made eye-contact with him.

Steve broke into a smile. "Really?"

"Hey, I said maybe. Anyways, the thing between us? It's unspoken. Last time we spoke about it, the group broke into two. So don't go around talking," Tony told him off, jokingly.

Steve kept smiling. "Okay, I will,"

Tony nodded and smiled back. "I will too." There was a pause of silence. "Anyways, again, I should go, my car's probably waiting," Tony patted him on the shoulder. "Yup," and left.

Steve turned around and watched him leave.

**...SceneChange...**

**Tony's POV:**

I entered the car and it began to drive off towards my house. I leaned on the window and thought about what just happened.

They sort of worked things out. Sort of. But if they could be friends, it could work.

My thoughts quickly went towards Stephen and Loki. Something happened, there's a secret somewhere. I wanted to figure it out.

I'm a genius, I'll figure it out. I brainstormed. Stephen realized something when we were called smart and arrogant. Smart and arrogant were both adjectives, words describing a noun, normally used to describe people.

Now, was Stephen calling Loki smart and arrogant, or the other way around. No, no one called anyone anything, at least directly.

We passed Starbucks. I fiddled with my watch. Maybe one of them was describing someone, and the other had to guess who it was.

My bet was that Stephen had to guess since he realized something when we were called smart and arrogant. I frown as I thought.

Loki must've described someone as smart and arrogant, and Stephen couldn't guess. until Obadiah called us the same thing, so Stephen would've realized it was one of us who he had to guess.

But why was he trying to guess? So much that it was a secret. Normally when someone's identity has to be secret it's either for a super-hero secret identity or something like a crush...

I quickly calculated the probability of both chances. Super-hero identity was rather low since we attend SHIELD Academy, so the reason the person Stephen had to guess had to be kept a secret was that it was Loki's crush?

The thought made me smile, but it slowly turned into a frown.

Both of us were called smart and arrogant.


	6. FIVE: Secrets Get Muddled

**Tony's POV: **

I walked down the calm morning pathways of the school gardens. I was contemplating whether or not I should've called Stephen that I knew about the secret. I didn't want to tell Loki because he was scary, plus it was his supposed crush so,

I sat down on a cement seat in an isolated part behind the school to think. Loki had a crush on either me or Stephen. I sighed into my hands and glanced around.

If it was me, what would I do? Was I gay? It would be a non-binary relationship or something right? I rubbed my forehead. It was too early for this.

I snapped my head up when I heard Thor's familiar laughter.

"It's fine Bruce, just hold onto my arms," his voice said. I stood up and hid behind a pot plant, and peeked through the leaves.

Thor was carrying Bruce bridal style towards the Medical Room. "I'm fine, Thor," Bruce complained.

"You're not fine, you almost fell down the stairs before," Thor argued. "We're almost there anyway,"

I crouched further down to hide better. They both entered the Medical Bay and disappeared. I stood up and cleared my hands of the dirt. Back to thinking.

I suddenly saw Loki about to pass. I knelt back down in a hurry and stayed silent.

"Why are you hiding behind a pot plant? he asked.

I slowly emerged. "I...dropped a screw I had for my inventions..." I made up on the spot. "But it doesn't matter now," I awkwardly tried to cross my arms, which didn't work, so I put them on my hips.

Loki frowned but ignored it. "Well, alright," he began to walk off.

"Wait!" I called, jogging after him. I didn't know why I even called after him, I didn't have anything to say.

He slowed down but continued walking. "Yeah?" He kept looking at the ground.

I mentally scanned my brain to find out what I was going to say. "Um, how's Stephen?" I blurted out in a hurry. I regretted it the moment it left my mouth.

Loki frowned but didn't glance at me. "Why would I know how Stephen is?"

"Uh, because you've been talking to him lately?" I panicked.

Loki shook his head. "I don't know how Stephen is," There was a pause before he did glance at me. "Why do you want to know?"

I went full on panic. "I-uh you know, friends, uh-" I spoke nonsense for the first time in a while, my face uncontrollably blushing. Why now? I couldn't let Loki know I knew what the supposed secret was, even if it was narrowed down to two people.

Loki frowned and pursed his lips. "Uh...I thought you were rivals," he avoided my gaze.

I looked forward. "We are...hey look there he is," I noticed Stephen in his usual spot in front of the school's front doors.

We approached him and Loki said hi. Wanda was with him, her arms around a few books. "Hey Loki, Tony," she nodded towards us.

I gave a quick wave and nervously glanced at Stephen. He frowned at us. Loki anxiously stared at the ground with an occasional flicker up to our eyes.

The awkward silence lasted for multiple seconds, my mouth stayed slightly open as I racked my head for something to say.

"Is there something going on that I don't know about...?" Wanda finally said, glancing at each of us in confusion.

Stephen's face immediately shone a pale red. "No, there's nothing, I think," he frowned at me. I shook my head.

At the corner of, my eyes I spotted Loki also begin to panic. Did he know I knew? Who would he-

"Hey Wanda, I think Steve wanted to find you," Loki turned to her.

"Oh, alright, I'll go and find him," Wanda slowly replied, noticing they wanted to be alone. She hurried down the stairs and went off to find the other.

I looked at Stephen, but before I could turn to Loki he pulled us both into the school and closed the door behind us.

"What did you tell him?" He hissed at Stephen, pointing at me.

"I didn't say anything!" Stephen tried to defend himself.

"Well, you gave a couple of clues," I muttered, shrugging to myself.

Loki turned to me and then back to Stephen. "What did you-he say?"

I shifted my feet. "Um, he said what I told you the bathroom yesterday, remember? Smart and arrogant, and repeating your name?"

"You told him that?" Stephen asked, a hint of alarm in his voice.

I squinted. "He didn't know about that? I don't know, you were being weird!"

"Well if you're the genius you claim to be, you'll know why I was being weird!" Stephen argued back.

Loki stepped in-between us. "Alright, stop it!" He sighed. "What do you know," he faced me.

I felt my back hit the wall behind me. "I...worked out that Stephen was trying to guess you crush...you gave him the description of 'smart' and 'arrogant', so when we were given those insults he thought it might be one of us?" I slowly explained, shifting my gaze between them.

Loki let out a big groaned and covered his face with his hands. "This is what happens when I tell one person,"

"I was right?" I exclaimed, surprising myself.

Loki lowered his hands, blushing furiously. "Don't talk about this to anyone, got it?" He growled at us, then left the building slamming the doors behind him.

I glanced at Stephen with a worried look. He crossed his arms. "Look what you did,"

"Me? I just figured out what the secret was based off your slip up," I said in disbelief.

Stephen gave me a playful frown. "You figured it out with just three words,"

"And with the situation and your reaction," I found myself being modest. "Anyways, are going to talk about the fact Loki here might like one of us?"

"Well, it's most likely you since he told me first," Stephen pursed his lips.

"Unless he was tricked us into thinking that, maybe make you jealous,"

"Why would I be jealous?" his cheeks didn't even color.

Tony tilted his head. "Are you jealous that maybe Loki, the most heartless person, has a crush on me? Everyone has at some point," I pretended to flip my non-existent long hair.

This cracked a smiled on Stephens' lips. "Well, obviously not 'everyone', why would I like you?" he smirked.

My train of thought broke for a moment. "Wha-I didn't mean," I tripped over my words. I glanced up at Stephen, whose face flashed with a pink tinge. This caused me to suddenly feel awkward, demure, and coy, all at once. I opened my mouth, for for the second time today, my words were gibberish.

"Did I get you too flustered?" Stephen leaned in a bit. What was he doing? He couldn't be flirting. Maybe this was his normal behavior since I didn't hang out with him much, I don't know what that's like?

He must've seen my panic and lack of an answer. "I'm kidding," he stepped back.

I mouthed more gibberish before I said something audible. "I know. Obviously," I shrugged. I edged to the door. "Obviously," and I sprinted out.

**...SceneChange...**

**Third POV:**

When recess came, Loki considered going to the circle or to stay by himself. He began to approach the circle but when he realized both Tony and Stephen were there, he paused and decided to go to the library.

The library was quiet as always, with a few students roaming around. Loki skimmed through the sections and stopped when he saw Wanda in the Games section.

"What are you doing here?" Loki curiously appeared behind her.

She gave a small squeal and glared when she realized it was him. "I'm researching for the Dungeons and Dragons Club,"

Loki crossed his arms. "Nice,"

Wanda paused and stared at him. "What was the Avengers Club?"

Loki frowned. "What do you mean?"

Wanda walked over to the end of the aisle to sit in one of the seats. "I just remembered about it. when I was signing up for the Dungeons and Dragons Club, Tony found an old sign up sheet that had most of the group's names on it. It said it was the Avenger Club,"

Loki followed her and sat down. He held up a finger. "First of all, it's not called the Avengers Club, it's just the Avengers. And they broke up last year,"

"Broke up? Like a band? Like the Beatles?"

Loki leaned back on the couch. "Yeah. Steve and Tony had a fallout,"

Wanda slowly nodded. "Is that why they barely talk to each other?"

"I guess,"

Wanda decided to change the topic. "What was all that awkward silence this morning? Between Tony, you and Stephen?"

Loki shut his eyes for a bit before answering. "Um, I don't even know," He sighed of tiredness.

Wanda looked down and pursed her lips. "Hey, Loki,"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you have any proper friends?" Loki stared at her in confusion. Wanda realized what it sounded like. "Sorry, I didn't mean-I meant," she gave a sigh. "Everyone has someone, whether it's a romantic other or just a close friend, or even multiple close others, but you don't seem to have either."

Loki turned away for was a moment. 'Having weak and damaged relationships is part of being Borderline,' He faced her again. "You...don't need to have a close person thing,"

Wanda stared softly at him. "I'm just worried. You always keep disappearing, everyone's acting different about you, and even your brother is worried about you,"

Loki let out a laugh. "Worried? Okay, that's a new one," he fell silent and stared at the patterned carpet.

Wanda leaned forward a bit. "Please? It might help if you told someone about it,"

"I did," Loki finally said, "But...I don't know," he stood up, about to leave.

Wanda stood up next to him. "Loki," he turned to her. "Be careful then," he didn't do anything and then left.

**...SceneChange...**

**Steve;'s POV:**

I sat on my usual spot, on the picnic table opposite the others. I had given up on seeing if Tony was doing something other than meddling with one of his inventions so I was now listening to one of Sam's crazy stories of his father's job as a pilot.

"Hey Steve, watch this," I turned my attention to Natasha, who piffed an old tennis ball at the back of Zola's head. Everyone who Natasha got the attention of quickly ducked when he turned around in annoyance.

"Why'd you do that?" I asked.

"He called me a slut," Natasha sighed.

"Don't worry, I already put 3 bags of red glitter in his locker before," Clint laughed before he fell silent.

I knew everyone was thinking the same thing as I was. Our signature mark as the Avengers was glitter bombs. I flashed a glanced at Wanda. She was confused again.

As everyone slowly turned back to their conversations, I realized Loki wasn't here. Again. It reminded me of the Bathroom incident. I thought about asking Thor again but decided against it. I looked around and saw Stephen sitting on the edge of the circle, reading a book.

"Do you know where Loki is?" I asked him.

He glanced up. "No idea,"

I remembered Tony. "How's Tony?"

Stephen scowled. "Why would I know how Tony is,"

"I don't know, I guess you guys have been hanging out a lot," I frowned.

Stephen looked horrified. "We are not friends. We just were both involved in something, but that's over now,"

I slowly nodded. "Well alright," I paused. "Wait what were you involved in?"

"Nothing important," he avoided eye contact. He frowned. "Why did you need to find Loki?" he asked worriedly.

I quickly tried to think up a reason other than the truth about Loki's breakdown a few days ago. "I-I needed to ask him about...a thing in Combat," I lied. I couldn't tell if he knew I was lying since he seemed suspecting but if he did, he ignored it.

"Alright then..." he shrugged and looked back down to his book. I nodded and turned around to head back to my seat.

Before I could, Bruce called me. "Steve! Come, Tony wants to show you something,"

I turned around again. Tony looked mad at Bruce but eventually flickered a smiled and looked back down at his work. I hesitated to go over there but I found myself already there. "Yeah?"

"Go on Tony," Bruce nudged him.

He fiddled with some wires from inside his machine. "I...just got excited because I figured something out,"

"What was it?" I asked, maintaining my interests.

He put down the machine and began explaining. "So I've been working on like rocket-boot like things, but that can do much more. But I had problems with controlling it with wireless but I managed to use sensory brain waves to control it,"

"Oh..." I was not the smartest one here, obviously, but I had such limited knowledge on technology since Mom and I could never afford it. No one but Bucky knew. I guess people might've suspected it but never mentioned it. Even back when Tony and I were friends, I was scared he would find out about my battered old outdated phone compared to the one he fabricated which was so much more advanced than other phones out there.

He must've noticed my lack of enthusiasm. "I guess it must sound stupid to you," he muttered, grabbing a tool.

I shook my head quickly. "No, no, it's not that. I mean, I don't fully understand the...science? Behind it, but I can tell it was a big accomplishment,"

He raised an eyebrow. "I guess, but it's still nothing compared to this baby," he patted his chest, his watch making a sound as it hit the metal ring of his arc-reactor.

I smiled. "I guess? I still don't understand,"

Tony continued to tinker with his creation and I scanned the area. From where Tony sits, it was higher than the ground, since he sat on the block of concrete that was supposed to be the backrests for the actual seats, which Thor and Natasha were sitting on.

I couldn't see Loki anywhere. This led my eyes to Stephen, who was still reading. He seemed worried, or suspicious when I asked about Loki. Did he know about his bathroom breakdown? No way, since it was just him and Loki.

There must be something else he knows about Loki, and he and Tony were involved. How? My brain was too tired for this.

Wanda fiddled with her lock before it managed to open. She roughly opened the door and began stuffing her bag with the homework she got. As she chucked the remains of her books into the shelf compartment, she noticed a book she didn't own.

She curiously took it out and read the cover. _'Mental Disorders; A Quick Guide'. _She frowned as she opened the thin hardcover book. A page had been tagged with a sticky flag. She flipped to that page.

_'I hope this explains it, sorry about before. -L.O.'_

Loki. Wanda scanned the part that the flag highlighted.

_'Borderline Personality Disorder; What is it?'_

She quickly shut the book and slung her bag over her shoulder. After she glanced around the busy hallway, she shut her locker and made her way to the library.

It wasn't soon before she found a quiet spot and sat in a spot and reopened the book.

_'Borderline Personality Disorder; What is it?_

_A mental disorder characterized by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships. This cause of borderline personality disorder isn't well understood. Diagnosis is made based on symptoms. Symptoms include emotional instability, feelings of worthlessness, insecurity, impulsivity and impaired social relationships._

It was a short passage, nothing else related to it. It was a Quick Guide anyways, so it was explainable.

Wanda put down the book and pondered for a moment. Was Loki borderline? It would seem so. Wanda sighed and got up and headed to the Health and Relations section.

There was someone there, but Wanda ignored him. She skimmed through the shelf and got closer to the guy. Eventually, she had to ask them to move.

She looked up. "Sorry, I-" she paused. It was Stephen. "Oh hi, I didn't notice it was you," she said, flustered.

He also looked surprised. "What are you doing in this section?"

Wanda hid the book Loki gave her behind her back. "I'm, um, just interested in this topic,"

"Really? You didn't seem the type,"

"Neither do you," Wanda pointed out, now wondering why Stephen was also in the section many people ignored.

It was Stephen's turn to look flustered. "Well, there's a lot I don't seem the type of," he finally said, standing aside. "Did you want to look?"

Wanda nodded. "Thanks," she awkwardly stepped into his position. She flipped the book Loki gave her to her front so he couldn't see it.

He stepped back and watched her. She pursed her lips and prepared herself to pretend to like the topic Stephen was looking at. She sighed and read the first title. It was a mental disorder related book. She frowned and managed to stop herself from glancing at him.

Why is he still here? Wanda thought furiously, as she skimmed the rest of the books. These were the ones she needed, but Stephen was here and it would be weird if she got a bunch of them. Wanda got an idea. Make him awkward.

"So...you're interested in Mental Disorders?" Wanda asked, turning back around.

Stephen's eyes widened. "Um, well, I know someone who, uh, has one of them," he gestured to the shelf.

Wanda slowly nodded. "Oh, which disorder?"

Stephen thought for a moment. "...uh-well," his eyes flickered to the books on the shelf. "-depression," he finally said.

Wanda raised an eyebrow playfully. "Nah, you're lying,"

"I'm not," he replied quickly.

Wanda frowned. "You're obviously lying," she pointed to the blue bold letters of one of the books that read 'All About Your Friend's Depression'.

Stephen made a face. "No, I'm not,"

"You're covering for someone, obviously," Wanda shrugged.

"Then why are you trying to hide a book from me? Called 'Mental Disorders; A Quick Guide,'?" he shot back, resulting in her struggling to find an excuse.

"Because, I thought it might be weird if you found me with a book like it," she finally said, holding it up.

"Thanks," he did an odd wave of his hand, and the book levitated from her hand.

"Hey! No using your powers-"

"I guess you'll keep it secret then," he opened the book to the sticky flag. "He told you too then," he closed the book and handed it back to her.

Wanda stared at him widely. "Loki?" Stephen nodded. "Who else knows?"

"By the sound of it, no one else but us," he crossed his arms. "Anyways, there aren't many books on the subject here, but I've already gone through Google,"

"And?" Wanda asked, taking out the sticky flag and putting it in her bag, then placing the book back on the shelf.

Stephen shrugged. "Not much, most of it says the same thing,"

Wanda sighed. "Well, alright. What do we do about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're the only ones who know about it, not even his brother. We should do something, like help him, or find out how to help him," Wanda explained.

"How? One of the main points is that he's not good at that stuff," Stephen pointed out.

"Well, one of the main points is about his 'impaired relationships', so maybe if we help him confront one of them, maybe it could help,"

Stephen shook his head. "We have no business in the sibling rivalry. Plus, he's rather touchy on the subject, it would be really hard to help him,"

Wanda got another idea. "We could help him find a friend!" she paused. "That sounds really horrible. I meant, how I found out about this was that I asked him why he wasn't that close to any of the others and he got all snappy, then he apologized, then got angry again and left. Then I found the book in my locker afterward,"

Stephen thought for a moment. "So, if we help him closer to someone...it would work better I suppose, maybe even help him with his...uh emotions,"

Wanda nodded. "We have to be careful, it's a hard thing to help with. Now, the question is who,"

Stephen smiled. "I think I know who, or at least, I know someone who does,"

**...**

**I accept requests and things like that**

**-DJ**


	7. SIX: Shenanigans And Schemes

Tony and Stephen were walking down the paths of the school gardens on the Tuesday of the second week of school.

"Okay, so I've been thinking, we should probably do something about the Loki situation," Tony began, facing Strange as they walked, doing the thing with his hands when he explains things.

"So have I," Stephen replied calmly.

"You do? Did you agree with me? I practically had a whole speech ready-"

Stephen cut him off. "Yes, but we must act. Do you have a plan?" he kept his eyes on the path.

Tony, being a lot shorter than Stephen, has to do quick steps to keep up with him. "Well, sort of. The chances of him opening up to us are tiny...so we need to do some sneaking,"

"Isn't that invading privacy?"

Tony shrugged. "Have you a better idea?"

Stephen sighed. "We just need to found out which one of us it is,"

"Who does he get flustered the most with?" Tony thought out loud.

Stephen frowned at him. "You get flustered with everyone,"

Tony's cheeks glowed. "No, I don't!"

Stephen shook his head and faced the path again. "What happened? You used to be the most popular kid at school, carefree and...stupid,"

"Hey!"

"But you've changed,"

"You noticed?" Tony asked, slowing down.

"Of course, I notice everything Stark, even when you blush in front of everyone," he smirked, not making eye-contact.

Tony realized he'd fallen behind. He jogged back up to him. "I do not blush with everyone," he insisted.

"Really?" Stephen made a gesture to his face. "What about now,"

"Well, that's because you're making me?" Before Tony could restate his poorly worded comment, Stephen spoke.

"I made you blush? Isn't that how it normally works?" Stephen raised his eye-brow, still not making contact.

Tony gave a short huff. "Yes, but I worded it wrong. You're making the situation into a big deal. Anyways, it doesn't matter, we need a plan to find out which one of us it is,"

Stephen thought for a moment. "We could keep him busy and we could enter his locker and see if there's anything,"

Tony shrugged. "That's not bad. I can get Thor to distract him for a bit, and then I'll hack it open,"

Stephen nodded. "Alright, deal,"

"I'll do it during recess," Tony said, as he stopped walking, and Stephen continued inside the school.

Tony sighed and waited for one of his friends to come along and accompany him inside. No one was turning up. His eyes widened as he spotted someone, but freaked out when he realized it was Loki.

He panicked and hid behind the stone stair rails as he walked by. After Loki luckily didn't turn up the stairs, Tony stood up and sighed.

"What on earth are you doing?" Steve patriotic voice said behind him.

Tony jumped and turned around annoyed. "What are you doing here?"

"I asked first," Steve shrugged.

Tony opened his mouth and then closed it. "We-I was just..."

"Hiding from Loki?"

Tony froze. "Well, no, sort of,"

Steve glanced around. "No or yes?"

Tony made a so and so face. "Yes..."

"What did you do?"

Tony blinked. "Nothing. I seriously did nothing,"

"Then why were you hiding?"

"Because I...think he might know something but I'm just being cautious," Tony finally answered.

"Did you sleep with someone again?" Steve raised his eyebrow.

Tony made an astonished face at him. "What? No! Steve," he whined, crossing his arms.

"What?"

"I didn't know your virgin ass made those assumptions now," Tony said.

Steve smirked. "Well, after a few months hanging out with Sam, you get used to it,"

Tony was going to say something but decided against it. "Okay," he turned around to see if anyone else had turned up yet.

"Are you and Stephen closer?" Steve randomly asked.

Tony made a face. "Ew, no. Why?"

Steve shrugged. "Well, I asked him since you guys seemed to be seen together a lot lately and he got all 'Ew no. Why?' as well," Tony hissed. "He said you guys weren't friends and you were both involved in something,"

Tony shifted his feet. "Um, yeah,"

"What would that be? Tony and Stephen working together?" Steve smiled.

Tony playfully punched him. "Never, it's over now," He entered the building. "See you later," And then he continued down the hallway.

**...SceneChange...**

The hall was filled with students, sitting on the bleachers. There was a little pedestal set up in the middle for the principle to speak.

Once the students finished to sit down, Vice Principle, Maria Hill, tapped the microphone.

"Hello, welcome to this weeks assembly. I'm sure all new students have fitted in perfectly into this school so far. I am Maria Hill, you guys call me Ms. Hill.

"I hope you all remember the rules, and at least mentioned them to the new students. The usual applies, no illegal activities, no tampering, no destruction. But the most important, no using Skilled or Enhanced abilities to one's advantage without permission by a superior.

Maria Hill looked up from the sheet. "This year will be once again filled with many fun activities, including but not limited to, the Contest Of Brains, the Battle of the Skilled, Prom for the Seniors, and the Grand Finale for Football.

"Talking about football, the first tryouts are to be taking place on our ovals but are going to be shared with Westwood Academy's football tryouts," There were multiple groans throughout the crowd.

"Those pesky kids are always trying to mess with us," Clint hissed.

"What do you mean?" Wanda asked.

"They've been our rival for ages, they're also a Specialized school, but we all suspect other not-so-nice people are behind them," Clint explained.

Ms. Hill flipped a page of her notes. "There shouldn't be too much else to say about the school, so I will let Mr. Fury speak,"

She stepped down and Mr. Fury got up.

"Everyone here has a reason to be here. Whether that's because you have an extra high IQ or a tragic childhood that resulted in your Enhancement, you are here to be taught how to control it, and then become a future Agent, or maybe even something bigger,"

He looked around the hall. "I'm aware of any shenanigans you lot get into, so try not to test me, since any activity at any extremity will result in you getting expelled, or even taken into custody. Anyway, on a lighter note, for many of the activities Ms. Hill mentions before, will only accept applications this week, including the Battle of the Skilled, which will be hosted by us this year. If you want to help set it up this year or any of the other activities, then you are free to join the Set Up Committee,"

"I hope you all have a good year," he stepped down, and other Club and Activity representatives walked up, and began talking about their groups with cringy speeches.

"Are one of us doing any other club?" Wanda asked when everyone began whispering between themselves since the speeches were boring.

Clint shook his head. "Not since the Avengers. I mean, sometimes Bruce goes to the Science ones, but we do do the contests and that sort of stuff,"

"Oh," Wanda turned her attention back to the front, where Maria Hill wrapped things up.

**...SceneChange...**

It was near the end of the Maths class. Next was recess, and Tony was anxious about the scheme he was supposed to do.

The teacher had got them into groups to do some activities, so he, Stephen, Loki, and Wanda were sitting around one of the tables, discussing the math problems set out for them.

As the clocked ticked closer to the end of class, Ms. Hill appeared at the door. Everyone paused and looked at her.

"Could Mr. Stark please follow me to Director Fury's office?" she asked politely, to Mr. Williams and Tony.

Tony frowned. Class ended in 3 minutes, it would overlap into recess so he wouldn't be able to hack into Loki's locker. He glanced at Stephen. "Alright," he hastily looked down and grabbed his books and items as fast as he could and hurried out after Ms. Hill.

"Is it my father?" he asked, putting the books into his bag, following her down the hall.

"No,"

Tony sighed and walked down the corridor. They soon made it to Fury's office, and Ms. Hill held open the door for him. Tony awkwardly entered.

"Sit," Fury spoke. Tony sat down on the leather couch and began to panic. It must be his father, he didn't do anything wrong. Fury placed his pen on the table. "Do you know Miss Margaret Carter?"

Tony felt lighter. "Yes! I mean, yeah, I do," he felt a wash of relief. He and Peggy were childhood friends, even though she was a year older than him. Her cousin Sharon was his age, but she was like that sibling who kept tagging along annoyingly to all their games. Sharon did attend Shield, but they both made a mutual agreement to ignore each other. Peggy left during my fifth grade, her sixth to go back to England to attend another school.

Fury stared at him. "Good, she is transferring to this school as a Senior" (A/N I know this isn't how it works in the US, and not how it works in Australia but oh well. Senior starts at Year 10,)

Tony smiled. "Well, that's great!"

"Yes, so you will be assigned as her guide tomorrow, you'll need to be here a bit early but that shouldn't be a problem since you're here early anyway," Fury explained.

"Okay, thank you, sir," Tony sighed, surprised at his random worry about his father. He was let out and Tony glanced at his watch. There was some time left in recess.

He paused as he passed a closet. He fumed. It was the closet that haunted him for years. It was a very secure closet, with an advanced lock. He had tried to hack it multiple times but every time he failed he got caught and got detention. After a big amount of detentions, his father was notified and he got into bigger trouble.

The fancy lock was taunting him. He took out a contraption out of his bag. It was an improved version of the lock picker he'd made years before but now made to hack into the schools built in technical locks on the lockers.

He stared at his invention and then at the closet. He wanted to find out what was in it. No one was near. He wouldn't get caught. He had improved over the years, this hack should work. He took a deep breath and activated it and placed it above the panel.

The light flickered on the screen and then it blinked green. It worked. Tony froze for a moment before smiling. Wait till Stephen got a load of this!

As if he summoned him, Stephen's voice appeared next to Tony, as he opened the door. "What are you doing?" he hissed, "That door is supposed to be locked!"

"And I unlocked it," Tony replied smugly. He held the door open as he was about to enter it when they both heard the click of some heels and another pair of footsteps.

"Quick, shh," Stephen panicked and pushed Tony inside the closet and stepped inside himself, closing the door after him.

The door clicked shut and darkness fell. Tony could hear Stephen's heavy breathing above him in the small closet. For a top-secret secured closet, it was small. The floor space was around one-meter square.

Tony's face was close to Stephen's neck, his hands balancing on the shelf behind him. It was getting hot really fast in the small space. "Steph-" he was cut off by Stephen putting his hand on his mouth. Tony sighed in defeat.

They quietly listened to the muffled voices of the people outside. They seemed to have stopped walking, paused in front of the door as the light coming through the bottom of the door had four thin shadows disturbing the bright line.

The voices stopped and the sound of heels was heard grow quieter and soon it had faded completely.

"Come one," Tony said, edging to the door, but he couldn't fit through unless Stephen moved.

"Wait, what about the other one? The one she was talking too?" he asked, but it was too late. Tony had aimed for the door handle and was about to step back when he remembered about the other guy but he lost my balance and tripped, pushing against the handle, opening the door.

Stephen tried to catch him but ended up falling out too. They both stumbled out of the closet, regaining their balance.

"What the..." It was Steve's voice.

Tony groaned and turned to him. "It's not what it looks like," he quickly said, glancing at Stephen and an immediate flush of blood filled his cheeks.

Stephen's hair was ruffled and his face was white with blotched red spots, which happens when he blushes severely. It was somewhat attractive. Tony wasn't able to say something.

Stephen sighed. "What he said,"

Steve crossed his arms. "Then what were you doing in a closet together, then leaving with both of you red as tomatoes?"

Tony tried to think of an excuse, but before either of them could, Steve stared at the lock. "Hold on, did you hack into- this is that closet you gave up on trying to open!" he stared at Tony.

"Yes, I tried again, and Stephen caught me, but then you and that lady came by and for both of us to not get caught, we hid inside there," he explained the truth, pulling his invention off the lock and stuffing it in my bag.

Steve frowned. "What was in there?"

"I don't know," Tony sighed.

"Why can't you just use that again?" Stephen asked, pointing to my bags.

"Well, because the school system can identify it now since I've already used it once. If I want it to work again I need to analyze the new security system and find out how to bypass that one," Tony shot a look at Stephen.

"Well, everyone's confused where both of you are, so let's head back," Steve shrugged, beginning to walk off. Stephen and Tony simultaneously followed.

Stephen leaned down sideways towards Tony. "So we'll need to wait to get into Loki locker if you need to get a new system,"

Tony nodded. "Yeah," he whispered back.

**...SceneChange...**

Almost everyone was sitting in the circle when they got back.

"Where were you?" Natasha asked as Tony sat in his usual spot next to Bruce.

"I had to go to Fury's office," he simply said.

"Why was that?" Wanda asked, remembering the Math class.

Tony smiled. "Because one of my old friends are transferring here tomorrow!" he said happily.

"New kid? I thought you hated new kids," Bruce asked.

"Well, that's because I didn't know how Wanda would turn out. Anyway, I know the new kid this time,"

"But old friends huh? That didn't turn out well last time," Stephen commented, glancing at Steve's picnic table with Bucky on it.

Tony paused before answering. "It should be fine. She's very independent," he begun to sound worried again.

"She? Tony, is one of your 'girlfriends'" Natasha groaned.

Tony pursed his lips. "Ew, no. She would punch me whenever I tried to playfully flirt, so I just stopped,"

The group fell silent as a blonde haired girl entered the circle. "Can I speak to Tony, please? Alone?" Natasha smirked as Tony walked over, annoyed.

"Who's that?" Wanda asked.

"I've seen her before but I never asked, she's friends with a completely different group so we don't interact," Steve replied.

"She's Sharon Carter," Natasha answered for him.

Steve's face went white. "Carter?"

**...SceneChange...**

Tony crossed his arms and stared at the girl. "What do you want?"

Sharon crossed her arms as well. "Peggy's coming to school tomorrow,"

"I know, I'm her guide," Tony raised his eyebrow, smirking.

Sharon looked horrified. "Look, I know we don't talk, but I know who you Tony. I know about your little..." she glanced down. "...shenanigans," she stared him in the eye. "You don't play any tricks on her! She going to be in the year above us, so no dating her to be more popular," she hissed.

Tony laughed. "More popular? I don't need a girl for that, I think you already know that" he flicked her long blonde hair and walked back to the circle.

She glared back and walked off.

Tony continued to smirk as he entered the circle again. "What's wrong with Rogers?" he raised his eyebrow at Steve.

Steve snapped out of his trance and stared at Tony. "Who's the new kid?"

"Peggy Carter," Tony began.

"No way! That's hilarious," Bucky broke out into a laugh, patting Steve on the back.

"What- am I missing something?" Bruce asked, confused.

"It's not just you buddy," Tony frowned, also confused.

"We used to go to primary together! Steve here liked her but he was too shy so we just stayed friends until she left in Year 6," Bucky explained, Steve now blushing red.

"Wait you guys were the ones who tried to fight that guy for grabbing her ass but failed miserably so she beat him up instead?" Tony smiled.

"No, that was Steve. I was in detention when that happened," Bucky laughed, looking at Steve.

"It's a small world," Natasha shrugged.

Tony sat back down. "Well, I'm her guide for tomorrow, I'll be sure to mention her,"

Steve nodded slowly, still taking in the info. Peggy was coming to his school. Peggy was coming to his school.

**Bucky's POV: **

I smiled, as I realized Peggy was coming. She was a good friend, and if she's friends with Tony, maybe Steve and Tony will get along better.

As the circle entered their usual chatter, my smile faded. Steve still probably likes Peggy. His crush faded during secondary, but if she's coming back, it'll resurface.

A funny sick feeling entered my chest. I began breathing heavily. It's okay, no panic attacks now please, I pleaded with my thoughts. I slowed down my breaths and focused on the patterned concrete.

It'll be okay, maybe Steve won't- there's no chance. He'll immediately reform his crush. It's okay, I can't force him to like my closeted gay ass. That's okay. I guess.

Steve had turned to us. "I can't believe I didn't recognize Sharon,"

"Well, you haven't seen her since we were twelve," I assured.

"Do you think she'll remember us?" Steve muttered.

"Probably, if you were good friends," Sam smiled, smirking at the thought Steve finally might like someone, even though he had a line of girls on his tail. "Why don't you text her something like 'I can't believe you're going to Shield Academy, we haven't seen each other in ages,'" he suggested, in a fake voice.

Steve took out the battered old phone he had since Year 5. I was the only one who knew fully about Steve and his Mom's condition. Sam was catching on since was closer to us than the others but it's a miracle he managed to get it all by rich Tony Stark.

He fiddled with the dodgy cracked screen and the duct tape that held the casing together. "She never replied to my old texts," he showed his the screen to us.

"Hey, it's Steve so you can have my number," read the text that was sent 3 and a half years ago, when Peggy finally gave us her number when she left.

"Damn, never mind then," Sam sighed.

"Well, maybe she changed phone or service. England is different to us anyway," I suggested. "You can ask her tomorrow,"

"Plus, if she doesn't like you," Sam shrugged, mouthing "there's other fish in the sea,"

Steve raised his eyebrow and chuckled. "It's fine, it should be fine,"

I smiled back. Yeah. It should be fine. But it's a new kid. Anything can happen.


	8. Trailer

Here is this Fanfiction's trailer:

/aJuC-25TVto

If you want one done for your fanfiction, just message me for the details.

(If the link didn't work bc is being silly)

/aJuC-25TVto


	9. SEVEN: Too Many Changes

*****warning: bad LaNGuAgE*****

*****warning: bullying and trans/homophobia*****

*****disclaimer: I'm not trans/homophobic, I love them I promise. I had trouble to write the part anyway :/*****

**Tony's POV:**

I hurriedly left my yelling household into the car which drove off to school.

I took a deep breath and sighed. I left a little early just in case. I will be guiding Peggy around the school. I wonder how this new kid would turn out.

At first, I was fine. I knew Peggy. But then I remembered Bucky. Steve knew him, and that still turned to chaos. I realized my heart was beating fast. It was worse than the first day of school when I was anxious to find out who Wanda was.

I tried to calm down, so I began to organize my bag. The pencils in the right spot, my books in biggest to smallest. that's when I saw it.

A small black leather A5 notebook. I frowned. This wasn't mine. I took it out and looked on the front and back. I then remembered. I took it from the Math table yesterday when I rushed to Fury's office.

I curiously opened the book. The paper was thick sketch paper. The first page had some random cartoonish doodles in a black marker.

On the bottom it was signed; 'By Loki'

I froze. This was Loki's. I must've accidentally taken it and didn't notice in the hurry. I turned the page and slowed down.

These were sketches of Stephen. Thoughts raced in my mind. Was his crush that we were trying to find out Stephen?

I turned the page again. This time they were sketches of me, in Maths class. He sat at the back, where he had a clear view of us. I frowned. Was it me or Stephen?

I turned the page again. These were good drawings, maybe better than Steve's. The next drawing was a nice picture of Wanda sitting on her spot in the circle.

Maybe it wasn't either of us? I got confused as I flipped through the pages. There were sketches of him and Thor, as kids and as they are now. There was a family drawing, but the father had his face scribbled out in a pen.

I pursed my lips as I got to the point where there was half a sketch, and the next page was blank. The half-drawn one had me and Stephen walking and talking. I was drawn rather short compared to Stephen. I scowled.

I frowned as my eye caught something. It had been rubbed out, but the remains were still there, faded, but still there. It was a love heart. I rubbed it a bit. It was still a love heart. In between Stephen and my head.

What did that mean? Before I could use my brain, the car stopped. I stepped out and stared at the school. How would I return it? Later, I waved away the thoughts as I put it back in my back and jogged to Fury's office.

**...SceneChange...**

Peggy was waiting outside as I approached.

"Hey!" I called, running up t her. My breaths were quick from running up all the stairs. "Good thing I came early,"

She smiled at him. Great, she's taller than me. "Tony! It's been ages,"

"Yeah, I was surprised when I found out you were coming," I adjusted my bag straps.

"Well, do you want to show me around this big school? I swear Sharon got lost twice on the way here," Peggy chuckled.

"Did she bring you here?"

"Yeah, I'm staying with them, my mom's still in England," she explained, as she followed me down the hall.

"Huh. Why did you transfer?" I asked.

"Becuase Shield saw my improvements and wanted to have me attend as a Skilled,"

I raised an eyebrow. "Fun, Natasha will like you," I smiled.

"You girlfriend?" She smirked.

"No way, she's dating someone else, dunno who to be honest at this point. What about you? Any long distance?" I asked her.

"I had one, Daniel, but we broke up after he had to move schools," she shrugged.

"Ha, that reminds me, do you know someone called Steve Rogers?" I asked.

"And Bucky? Yeah?" Peggy was interested.

"They attend here, I'm...friends with them," I stuttered on the 'friends' part. "They were just as surprised when they heard you were coming,"

"Really? They attend here? Maybe Bucky, but Steve, he's tiny, and all those medical things-"

"Well, he's upgraded," I realized she must've known him before the serum. "All the girls want him, honestly, that serum did nothing for his ass," D;

Peggy raised her eyebrow. "Okay...well I'm sure you'll introduce them to me again,"

I chuckled. "Yeah. Well, this is the science level, down there is the mechanics..." I led her through the big school. The sick feeling was still present.

**...SceneChange...**

**Third Person View:**

Loki rummaged through her bag in panic. "Thor!" she yelled. No answer. She growled and stood up, storming into her brother's room. "Thor!"

"What?" Thor replied, trying to find his bag on the messy floor.

"Do you know where my black book is?" Loki asked.

"No idea what you're talking about. What's in the book? Spells? Mother wouldn't approve-"

"They're not spells," she frowned, leaving Thor and his disgusting room. I must've left it in my locker, she thought, zipping her bag and headed to the front door. "Bye Mother!" she said goodbye and stepped out onto the street.

She pulled the sleeves of her dark green sweater past her wrists as she made her way to school. The walk to school used to be short but after some of the bullies who skipped the first period began hanging out on one of the main corners, Loki had to change his route, which took 13 minutes longer.

She took off her hair tie and began plaiting part of her hair to wrap around the messy bun she'd made in the morning.

"Hey look it's the emo from the 'Special Kids' school," sneered a voice from behind.

'Shoot' thought Loki, as she sped up her pace. They must've changed their hang-out spot. She didn't know who they were, they went to a different school.

"Hey, listen to us bitch," yelled another kid, two of them coming on either side of her. Loki ignored them.

"Hey weren't you a guy yesterday?" laughed the one to her right. He poked her on the side-boob.

Loki automatically punched him in the jaw. "Hey!" her voice was a bit higher than usual.

"Aww, you gonna cry girl?" smirked the third. Loki frowned. Two guys and one girl.

"Chose one gender bitch, or are you trying to steal all the options slut," The girl crossed her arms, leaning forward.

Loki's hands trembled. She couldn't fight back, she might accidentally use her powers. She just continued to ignore them and turned to keep walking. They followed. Loki uncomfortably crossed her arms and took out her phone.

Her fingers shook as she began texting Thor.

Loki: -Bullies on White St.-

She tried to block the insults from her mind but they kept coming closer. "Just stop it alright!" she yelled at them when she gave up.

"No need to be snappy, you low-life hoe," the girl hissed at her.

"Your words are so foolishly and ignorantly composed that I cannot believe you understand them," Loki muttered, turned back, almost jogging away.

"Hey! What'd you say?" she screamed.

Loki's phone buzzed. She took out her phone.

Thor: -so?-

Loki was about to text back, but the girl slapped the phone out of her hands. "No calling 911, you weak-ass witch!" Loki phone fell onto the pavement. She sighed and squatted down to pick it up, very aware that the other two were behind her.

"I 'said', What. Did. You. Say?!" The girl said threateningly, getting close to her.

"Listen to her, or are you deaf?" one of the boys repeated.

Loki shook her head. "No, I'm not," she finally said and sprinted off.

"Hey!" but they couldn't be bothered to follow.

After two blocks, Loki stopped running. She was close to the school, just down the street. She glanced down at her phone.

Loki: -nevermind-

She let out a deep breath and entered the calm garden of the school. At least, it was calm for a few seconds.

"Look, it's greasy king. Oh sorry, I meant queen,"

Loki made a face and sighed. "Alright, stop it, foolish persons," she turned around to face Malekieth and some of his buddies.

"Ladies don't speak like that, naughty girl, do you want a spanking?" he chuckled and was followed by a series of stupid comments made by his friends.

Loki's face didn't change a shade. "No thank you, I'm sure you give Don enough of those,"

One of the guys in his group flushed a darker shade. "How dare he," he stepped forward.

Loki took a step back. He unsheathed a knife. Loki's eyes widened. "Woah, hey there now," she held her hands out as if to calm him down.

"I won't be mistaken for one of those gay-ass oafs," he growled. He lifted the knife as was about to strike down.

Loki tried rolled out of it, but he managed to put her into a lock and held the knife at her neck. "I'm sure we can come to an agreement," Loki stuttered.

"Nah, this is more fun," he smirked, lifting the knife again. As he stuck down, Loki shut her eyes, bracing herself for the pain. Nothing, instead there was a clanging sound.

Loki opened her eyes. A familiar golden orange shield with ancient markings on it hovered over her. The knife lay meters away from her. She kneed him in the shin and got up. Loki scrambled away as he howled in pain.

Loki stood up and glanced at Malekeith, who walked off. She stepped back and looked around for Stephen. She found him, with Tony and another girl running over.

"Holy shit, are you alright?" Tony gasped.

"I'm fine," Loki's breathing was quick.

"You've got a cut," Stephen pointed to a point on her cheek and jaw. "It's not severe though,"

"I'll head to the nurse," she glanced up at him. "Thanks, about before,"

"No problem. I just hope I don't get in trouble," Stephen smiled.

"Fury's an idiot if he punishes you for breaking that rule," Tony said, getting mad.

"It's alright, I'm sure Director Fury will understand," the girl assured.

"I'm Loki," she introduced, "This probably isn't a very good first impression," she chuckled.

"Margeret Carter, but you can call me Peggy," the brunette replied.

Loki nodded. "I'll head to the nurse," she waved goodbye and entered the building.

"Who was that?" Peggy asked when she left.

"Thor's brother-sister," Tony corrected himself.

"She's always here earlier than Thor," Stephen explained, seeing Peggy's confused face, although he explained the wrong thing.

"Right...anyway, is this it?" Peggy asked. "The whole school?"

"No, there's one more building, but I don't need to show you that since it's the Combats hall," Tony responded.

"Oh," Peggy looked at Stephen. "You're an Enhanced?"

Stephen nodded. "Yeah. It's not too special, Tony's an Enhanced too,"

Tony frowned playfully. "Technically, I am, because of this," he patted his chest, the faint blue glow slightly visible through his black shirt

Peggy smiled, already knowing about his arc-reactor. "Is anyone else in your group an Enhanced?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, we have Steve, Bucky, Loki, Thor, Wanda...Stephen," he nodded to him. "I think that's it..."

Peggy smiled. "You and Stephen seem like good friends,"

Both Stephen and Tony snorted and said "We're not," at the same time.

Peggy smiled. "Sure," she turned to face the front and paused. "Is that...?"

Tony looked where she was looking. "Yeah," Steve and Bucky were talking to each other as they unknowingly approached them. "Shh," he smirked, pushing both of them behind the big staircase.

"What-"

"Three...two...one!" Tony jumped out and scared Steve and Bucky.

"What the-" Steve stopped himself from punching him. "Tony what on earth are you-" he paused when Peggy and Stephen stood up. "Peggy. Hi," He brushed himself down. "I'm Steve if you didn't recognize me,"

"Yeah, I do..." Peggy stared at him in the eye. "I like the glow up,"

"Thanks," Steve answered, but Peggy had her attention now on Bucky.

"What's this, Bucky hiding behind Steve? Wasn't it the other way around?" she smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," he smiled at her. "It's nice to see you again," he shifted his eyes when he felt her feel the lump of metal of his prosthetic connecting to his real shoulder.

"I guess I have a lot of catching up to do," she patted him on the shoulder.

"Yeah," Tony crossed his arms, raising his eyebrow.

**...SceneChange...**

The hallways were busy and Tony had finally gotten some alone time after leaving Peggy with her cousin. He weaved himself through the crowd and found Loki.

"Hey, Lokes," he called, getting her attention before walked and disappeared into the busy corridor.

"Yeah?"

"I think I accidentally grabbed this yesterday," he passed her the sketchbook.

Loki grabbed it quickly. "Did you look in it?"

Tony hesitated. "Yes,"

Loki sighed. "Don't tell anyone," she put it in her bag. "Thank you,"

"No problem," Tony pursed his lips. Finding out who she liked would take a bit longer. He quickly realized he had class and ran towards the Combats hall.

**Tony's POV:**

Peggy was amazing, as always. Now I would be able to see her in action, as we both had Specialized Combats now. We were focussing on hand to hand as if we didn't have enough of it in our Junior years. So instead of our cool black leather and metal protection armor, we had normal gym or fitness clothes.

I had just some red gym shorts and a black shirt one. I was late to class, so I was still putting chalk and wrapping my hand up in wraps as the teacher was explaining the exercise.

I looked around the circle we had made around Mrs. Adams and the mat. Sharon was in this class. I hadn't noticed before, and I wouldn't've if she wasn't standing next to Peggy.

"Okay, class, as I showed you that last presentation, I'm sure Tony would be able to demonstrate," Mrs. Adams said my name. I glanced up, unaware of what I was supposed to do.

"Sure," I mindlessly said, not knowing what else to do.

"And, who else would like to try and see if they can use the technic to take Mr. Stark down,"

No. Not- Steve put up his arm.

"Sure, Rogers,"

Steve stepped forward, adjusting his wraps. "Sorry, Tony."

Jeez alright. What was the technique?

Avoid the punch.

Duck under his torso.

Punch his side.

No, don't- too late. He already picked me up and put me back down on my back and pinned me down. There were some claps and I smiled sheepishly.

"Who else?" Mrs. Adams asked.

Bucky put his arm up. Okay, both serum buddies want to take me on, alright.

I looked around as Bucky walked on. I noticed Steve glancing at Peggy. I looked back at Bucky. I saw him glanced at Steve, who was glancing at Peggy.

Oh dear. Was this a love triangle? What happened in primary school? Did both Bucky and Steve like her?

Punch in the stomach.

Distracted. Focus.

Avoid arm. Duck under.

Kick the back of the knee. He fell down onto his knees. Before he could do something, I put my arms around his neck.

He fell onto his back, squashing me. He tried to peel my arms off his neck. I managed to wedge my leg around his metal arm and held it down.

He wriggled, but I held on. Tap Tap. He tapped out. I let go.

"Well done Mr. Stark, but not the technique," Mrs. Adams said. I shrugged and went back to the circle. I looked at Bucky. He was rubbing his neck and staring at Steve and Peggy, who were whispering.

Steve whispering during class? Something was up.

**Bucky's POV:**

Steve volunteered. That's fine. He always volunteers. But this time it was for a different purpose. He kept glancing at Peggy. It was to impress her. Even though he didn't do the technique properly, he still got Steve out. He barely gloated to him about it like he always does.

Instead, he went to stand next to her instead of next to me.

When Mrs. Adams asked for another volunteer, I put my hand up. I normally never volunteer.

I tried to do the technique but I got distracted. I overheard Steve whisper something to do with 'plums', but as I tried to get more of the conversation, Tony got me into a lock and I had to tap out.

As I walked back to the circle, Steve barely paid any attention to my defeat. He was still whispering to Peggy. He never does that.

'It's okay,' I reminded myself, 'he can like her,'

But what if he forgets about me?

**Tony's POV:**

Was I this annoying when I whisper to someone else in classes?

**Bucky's POV:**

Will this be the norm now? He and her partner up? Who will I partner with? Probably Sam.

**Tony's POV:**

Jeez, I was so distracted I forgot to pick my partner. The only person left was Stephen. We really are hanging out more, it's gross.

**Bucky's POV:**

I was paired with Sam, but I could barely do the technique, Steve was getting close to Peggy as she teaches him how to do it properly.

**Tony's POV:**

Stephen is useless at this.

**Bucky's POV:**

I felt my anxiety playing up. What if too many things change?

**Tony's POV;**

Too many thoughts went through my head at once. Things were changing. Steve wasn't paired with Bucky. If there was a love triangle, that's never good news. Leave it to Steve to make things complicated.

**Bucky's POV:**

Sam's fine, but Steve's my best friend, the best I'll get seeing that he's straight. But now, I guess I would always be the second best anyway.

**Tony's POV:**

I collapsed on the matt. Bad things happen when there's a new kid. Too many shifts in the normalness of our happy group.

**Bucky's POV:**

I collapsed on the matt. I hate anxiety. I felt my skin sweat as Sam's voice echoed in my head.

**Tony's POV:**

Fuck.


	10. EIGHT: Hail Hydra

**Third Person POV:**

Tony stumbled onto the matt as Stephen failed to do the technique again.

"You alright?" Stephen asked, panting.

Tony didn't answer. The voices around him blurred to a muffled noise. Too many thoughts. Changes. He didn't even notice it. Now with Peggy, she was fine, it was Steve. Steve again. But it wasn't his fault. It's not fair to blame him only,

Tony didn't stand up. He didn't notice Stephen kneeling down next to him trying to get his attention. He didn't feel his arms shaking and that he was murmuring random words.

Too many changes. Thoughts continued to race through his mind as he couldn't comprehend what was happening.

Changes. Loki and Stephen. Steve was right, he was hanging out with Stephen too much. They weren't friends! He hadn't spent nearly enough time with Bruce as he used to. He hadn't seen Natasha in ages, Thor who knows.

Stephen. It was his fault. Was it?

"Tony!" his voice came in sharp as Tony's ears focused.

Tony glanced up at him. He realized he was a blur. He rubbed his eyes to get a somewhat focused image on Stephen. Tony felt his face was hot and wet. What happened.

Tony was silent as he tried to remember what he was doing. His muscles felt weird. Like that time his driver missed the fire hydrant when they were late to his father's dinner. Or that time they skipped the red light. Or when the brakes weren't working-

Tony felt himself falling again. "Tony! Listen to me," Stephen's voice was in the background of Tony's thoughts.

He suddenly snapped out of it. Stephen. "What are you doing?" Tony pushed Stephen away. He realized he was crying. He steadied his breaths. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Calm down Tony," Stephen tried to say.

"No, why are you here?" Tony clutched his hair. "Why are we even- we aren't friends Stephen!" he cried, getting the attention of most of the class.

"Tony,"

"No, don't Tony me, where's your obnoxious Stark gone to? I'm still that arrogant idiot, what are you doing?" Tony blabbered, speaking his rushed thoughts.

Stephen sighed slowly. "Stop, calm down,"

"I am calm! What do you think I'm-" Tony's voice quietened as Stephen guided him to the bathrooms, in which Tony subconsciously followed.

**...SceneChange...**

Bucky stood still.

"Come on, it's your turn," Sam said, massaging his muscles, waiting for Bucky to attack. He didn't move. "Hey you good?" he stepped forward but as he did, Bucky punched him in the jaw. "Ow! What the-"

Bucky stepped back in surprise and began hyperventilating. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-argh," he clutched his head and began talking to himself.

Steve, who was nearby, came over at Sam's yell. Peggy followed in confusion. "Bucky, calm down, it's me, Steve,"

"I know," Bucky groaned.

"Okay, can you get him out?" Steve asked.

Bucky roughly shook his head. "Argh," he let go and knocked over a chair. "Go away," he yelled, causing the other students to notice.

"Bucky, I need to you to silence him," Steve said wearily. Last time this happened Bucky accidentally broke someone's arm.

"I'm trying!" he tried to say. He stepped back and was still muttering to himself.

Steve stepped closer, holding out his arms. "Shh..."

Bucky swatted away his arms. "Stop," he glanced up at Steve. He stared back. Suddenly, Bucky rushed forward, knocking Steve down. Bucky placed his knee on his chest and growled. "It's your fault,"

Steve braced himself as Bucky lifted his metal arm to punch him, but instead, he collapsed. Steve sat up, gasping.

Mrs. Adams stood behind them, with an empty needle. "It's okay, he'll be fine," Steve nodded, standing up.

"What was that?" Peggy asked.

"...just something that happens..." Steve muttered.

**...SceneChange...**

Stephen closed the door of the bathroom as Tony walked to the furthest corner covered his face.

"Tony,"

"No,"

Stephen sighed. "I don't know why you're mad,"

"I'm not mad," Tony almost yelled, banging on the soap dispenser. "I'm not mad," he repeated, calmer. That didn't stop the tears mindless falling down his cheeks. He tried to wipe them with his wrist.

"Okay, you're not mad, but...I need to know why you're like this," Stephen said, tired.

"You don't need to," Tony said, realizing his arms were still shaking. "I'm fine," he tried to wipe his tears again.

Before Stephen could say anything, the bathroom door slammed open. "Before you say anything, I don't care," said the all too familiar voice. Natasha appeared.

Stephen opened his mouth to say this was the guy's bathroom but she shut him up. "I said, I. Don't. Care." She stepped over to Tony. "Now you, what's up? I just left Bucky, who went all Winter Soldier, and I find that you've just gone through another panic attack?"

Tony avoided eye contact and faced the sink. "No,"

Natasha sighed. "No? Really? Look, I know about the New Kid dilemma, Bruce told me,"

"He did?" Tony asked, feeling his face grow redder if it could.

"Yes, so you don't have to explain it. What it that that caused it?" she asked, her voice growing softer.

Tony stared at the sink. "Yeah,"

Natasha glanced back at Stephen, who was being silent. "Okay, well why don't you talk to Steve about it,"

Tony shook his head. He tried to turn on the tap, but his hands were shaking too much. Natasha opened it for him. "Look, fine. Don't talk to him, but...it's the best way. I'm sure Steve cares about you and will listen to you this time,"

Tony looked at her through the mirror. "I'll...speak to him when I feel like it," he finally said.

Natasha squeezed his shoulder. "I should leave before Mrs. Adams finds out I was in here," she gave a small smile and left the bathroom, waving at Stephen.

As the door made a noise as it closed, Tony covered his face in his hands. "Ughhh..."

Stephen awkwardly fiddled with the hem of his shirt. Normally it would be his scarf, but he didn't have it on since he had his Combats clothes on. "So..."

"Leave," Tony snapped, not looking up.

"Kay," Stephen quickly said, leaving the bathroom too, leaving Tony alone with his thoughts.

As Stephen left, he realized the hall was half empty. "What's going on?" he asked Sam, who was on the bench fixing up his hand wraps.

"Bucky's D.I.D. played up," Sam explained, getting up. "Mrs. Adams finished the class early, but the hall is open for us to spar if we want," He shrugged and ran off towards Natasha, Clint and some of the others. Steve was nowhere to be seen, and Peggy was with Sharon, talking in the corner.

Stephen sighed. He should work on his Combat skills, but he wasn't really close to the others so he didn't feel comfortable to spar with them. He sighed and began to take off his hand wraps when he heard a pair of footsteps come over.

"Hey, Stephen," Peggy smiled.

Stephen looked surprised. "Oh hi, did Steve go with Mrs. Adams and Bucky?"

Sharon nodded. "Yeah, they left in a hurry,"

"What happened with Tony?" Peggy asked, pointing to the bathroom.

"No idea," Stephen shrugged, continuing to take off the hand wraps.

"Are you leaving?" Peggy asked, noticing.

"Yeah, I'm not great at Combats, I'm better in Enhanced Combats," he explained, rolling up the wraps.

"Oh. Well, I won't be able to see you in action then, I'm just Skilled," Peggy said.

"Wanna join us?!" called Natasha to the two girls.

"Sure!" Sharon answered and looked at Peggy.

Peggy smiled at Stephen. "Well, catch you later,"

Stephen nodded as they ran off to the circle of mats.

Peggy and Sharon joined the group. Sharon wasn't familiar with the group, she was only here because of Peggy. Peggy also didn't know the group that well either.

Natasha put her hands on her hips. "So, Peggy, Sharon, I'm Natasha. This is Clint, Wanda, Sam, Thor, and Loki," she pointed to each one as she introduced them. "And we're just gonna see who can hold each other the longest,"

"Alrighty, who's first?" Clint rubbed his hands. "Who's gonna take on the mighty Clint Barton!" he smirked, looking around the group.

"Why not?" Peggy shrugged.

"Show me what you got new girl," Clint got into a stance and faced her.

**...SceneChange...**

"Remember when Peggy completely beat you?" Natasha laughed for the fourth time during recess. Clint was sitting grumpily next to her with a bruise on his cheek.

"It's alright," Peggy smiled, liking the group already. Sharon was with one of her other friends.

The group was happily chattering along. Bruce leaned into Thor. "Hey, do you know where Tony is?"

Thor shook his head. "I have no idea where he is,"

Loki had her nose in a book, sitting on the seat below Thor. "I think he's somewhere in the Combat's gym still,"

"Why?" Bruce asked, surprised. Tony wasn't all for the Specialized Combats.

"I don't know either," Loki shrugged.

Steve still hadn't returned with Bucky. Sam was sitting with the others. "So, Peggy, what's your history with Steve?"

Peggy stared at him blankly. "Well, we were friends in Primary School. When he entered year 5, I moved back to England,"

Sam made a smirk and nodded. "Mhmm, I see,"

Loki put her book down and took out her phone. It was opened up to her previous chain of texts with Thor from the morning.

Thor noticed this. "What was the meaning of your texts this morning?" he asked.

Loki closed the app. "Oh, um, nothing,"

"It was not 'nothing,'" Peggy suddenly spoke up. Thor frowned at her. "Some students put a knife at her throat,"

"What?" Thor shot a glance at Loki. "You never told me this?"

"Relax, I was just distracted. It would never have happened if I had a clear mind," she tried to pass off the subject.

"What did you have on your mind that was so important? You sent me a text saying there were bullies on White St, I doubt Peggy was there to see that. Were you attacked by two different groups?" Thor interrogated.

Loki raised her eyebrows. "Maybe...but even so, I got away,"

"Who were they and what did they say?" Natasha glared angrily.

Loki waved her hand. "They were nobodies. Even the newbies could've taken them. They went to another ordinary school,"

"What about the ones at school? That pulled a knife on you?" Bruce asked.

"Malekieth," Stephen spoke up, who was silently sitting near them.

"That son of a bit-" Natasha stood up, but Clint brought her down.

"Calm down. I appreciate your concern, but it really is nothing," Loki sighed.

"What did they say? What did they insult? Natasha repeated. Loki didn't say anything. Natasha bent down. "What did they say Loki,"

She gulped. "They...called me a slut, told me to choose one gender, and poked me in the chest region," she avoided Thor's eyes.

"Was that Malekeith?" Natasha sounded mad.

"No, that was the other nobodies. I sort of provoked Malekieth," Loki said hesitantly. She didn't like it when she was bullied, no one did, but it was odd when her friends stood up for her.

"That's no reason for them to pull a knife on you, what happened?" Thor growled.

Loki took a deep breath. "They called me a greasy king, then corrected themselves sarcastic to 'queen', to which I replied by calling them foolish and they said I was naughty and if I wanted a spanking but I said 'I'm sure you give Don enough of those' and he put the knife on me," she explained, growing red.

Clint snickered behind Natasha. "I gotta say, points to Loki for that one,"

"That is hardly a reason for them to break the rules," Thor thundered.

"Stephen saved me using one of his shields, he would get in trouble if we told on them," Loki muttered.

"He did it to save you from one of them breaking the rules, it's self-defense!" Natasha said. "I'm going to do something about it,"

Loki pursed her lips. "I dunno, maybe it's better if we don't do anything. If we do something, Fury might suspect it's us,"

"Then we don't use the Avengers technique," Clint suggested.

"How else do you suggest we get revenge?"

Clint paused. Their way was the safest, yet most satisfactory way. "I don't know," he rubbed his neck. It was still sore from when Peggy put him into the hold.

"It's fine," Loki shrugged.

Natasha hesitated. "Fine, but I won't forget it," she sat back down.

Loki awkwardly lifted up her book and continued reading.

**...SceneChange...**

Tony walked down the halls for the fifth time. He didn't want to go back to the circle, so he paced throughout the school instead, thinking.

He couldn't come to an arrangement. Talk to Steve? Be mean to Stephen again? Accept the changes? He gave up and approached the lockers. He frowned.

His locker had been spray painted in red, with a picture of an octopus reading 'Hail Hydra'. Tony froze. Had they risen again? Were the bullies of the school secretly banding together again?

He did his code and opened his locker. He took out his bag and began to head to his next class, even though it was 20 minutes early. He continued to rack his brain for a plan. He was too busy distracted, he didn't notice Steve and Bucky making their way back.

He bumped into them. "Sorry, I- oh hi Steve," Tony paused.

Steve looked surprised. "What are you doing here?" he didn't know about his incident during Combats.

Tony lied. "Just, getting to class early,"

Steve nodded. It wasn't unusual. "Well, okay. Class is in twenty minutes though,"

"I know,"

Steve frowned as he noticed the lockers. He and Bucky walked over for a closer look. "What happened?"

Tony put his hands in his pockets. "I don't know. I just found it like that,"

"If they're banding together again..."

"Malekieth pulled a knife on Loki this morning," Tony stated.

Steve turned to him in disbelief. "Really? This is serious, we should tell Fury,"

"And let him not believe us again?" Tony glanced at Bucky. "Remember last time?" he sighed. "We needed all of them to gang up on Bucky last year for him to believe us,"

Bucky looked at Steve. "We could make a trap. Lure them to somewhere where they know we will be there, vulnerable too,"

"Catch them in the act," Steve brightened up.

Tony pursed his lips. "Okay, but how do we make them think we're vulnerable? I'm mean, we're a pretty strong team,"

"Last time they did it after our... public fight in Combats," Steve remembered.

"So if they think we're mad at each other..."

"They'll think we're vulnerable," Bucky realized.

"Exactly," Steve concluded. "So...do we pretend to fight again?" he looked at Tony.

Tony paused. He remembered his thoughts before he bumped into Steve. He might accidentally get another panic attack and burst out his feelings. He wouldn't be able to pretend, because it was real. "Maybe...it's not the best for us to do it since we have a...what do you call it?"

"A weak relationship?" Bucky offered.

"That," Tony looked at Steve hopefully.

Steve frowned. "Alright, if you wish," Tony blinked. He really was clueless. Steve thought. "You and Stephen could have a public intense argument since you guys already are rivals,"

Tony nodded slowly. Stephen. He could pretend fight with Stephen. "Sure, okay, so do we tell them?"

"I think it's best," Steve said. "Let's go tell them," he and Bucky began to talk.

"Wait," Tony still didn't want to confront the others. "You go ahead and formulate the details of the plan, I need to go...help Mr. Jone's with some paperwork, I just remembered," Tony lied again.

"Alright, see you later," Steve gave a quick wave and left.

Tony sighed again. Steve was really clueless.

**...SceneChange...**

Steve and Bucky returned to the circle. "Okay guys, Hydra's formed again," Steve announced.

"What?" Natasha said, breaking the silence that fell.

"Hydra? What's that?" Peggy asked.

"The bullies, all of them grouped up to gang up on us and everyone else," Bucky explained.

"So what are we doing?" Bruce asked.

"I'm ready," Natasha stood up, rolling up her sleeves.

"No, we've got a plan. Well, part of a plan. Tony and I-"

"Tony and you? Are you back on talking terms?" Thor asked, confused.

"Sort of," Steve sighed. "Anyway, we need to catch them in the act, to prove to Fury we weren't lying again. Stephen," he turned to him. "You're gonna fake fight publicly at some point with Tony, then declare some sort of competition with a location,"

Stephen frowned. "Okay?"

Steve continued. "Then, we will all go to that place, some of us to witness it and others hiding, unbeknownst to Hydra. They attack, and we don't fight back,"

"Aw," Natasha whined. "They've been on my nerves all term,"

"We will try not to fight, otherwise we'll get into trouble too,"

"How do we get Fury to know?" Wanda asked, also new at this.

"We'll do it somewhere where he will be there," Bruce said. "Like...the football game this Friday,"

"Tomorrow?" Loki exclaimed. "Don't we need more of a plan?"

"No, tomorrow is fine. Someone tell Tony to stage the fight at lunch in the cafeteria," Steve concluded.

Clint smiled and stood up. "So...Avengers Assemble?!" he put his hand in the middle of the circle. Everyone stared at him awkwardly. "No? Okay fine," he sat down, disappointed.

Everyone began talking to each other excitedly about the scheme. Steve and Bucky sat on their picnic table where Sam, Wanda, and Peggy were sitting.

"We were talking about how Peggy completely clobbered Clint during Combats," Sam snickered.

"Really? Good job," Steve smiled at her. She shrugged back. Bucky eyed them and stayed silent.

"So...what happened with the whole Avengers thing? I never got a full story," Wanda slowly asked.

Steve sighed. "We were a group, as you know. But when Bucky moved here last year, well Tony didn't take it well. I guess we disagreed and go into a fight,"

"What about?" Wanda frowned. "It can't have just been because of Bucky's arrival,"

"Well, we were close, Tony and I. When Bucky came, we drifted apart. There was the whole dilemma of adding Bucky to the Avengers even though Fury had closed the slots. But then when I had no choice but to leave the bullies to him when they were beating up Bucky and he accidentally broke Tony's arm," Steve glanced at Bucky to make sure he was okay.

"Have you talked to him about it?" Peggy asked.

Steve shook his head. "I tried, but he seemed sensitive about it,"

Before Peggy could say something, she heard her cousins voice from behind call her. "Yes?"

"Come here," Sharon crossed her arms. Peggy made an apologetic look at the guys and walked to her.

"Yes?" she repeated.

"Why are you hanging out with them?" Sharon muttered, making sure they couldn't hear her.

"Because they're nice. Why didn't you tell me Steve attended here?" Peggy asked.

"Because- well I didn't think you cared," Sharon blushed.

Peggy raised her eyebrow. "Really? Or was it because you didn't want me to get close because you like him?"

Sharon shook her head. "No, I just know him from class. Anyway, ever since he and Tony stopped being friends, I helped him and Bucky with a few things, but they never knew I was your cousin,"

"Why?"

"Well because..."

"They would try to connect with me? Did your crush on Steve really get so far into your life that you didn't tell them your last name?" Peggy frowned, humored. "Honestly, I thought you were more than that high-school girl,"

"I am!" she defended, indignantly. "Anyway, you shouldn't mix with them. Tony's a bad influence, and trying to fight the bullies? You'll get into trouble. The number of times Natasha and that have gotten detention for breaking someone's nose,"

Peggy stared at her. "Are you being serious? They are standing up to the bullies before they do something bad! One of them pulled a knife on Loki this morning. If Stephen hadn't interfered, she might not have an eye,"

Sharon sighed. "Fine, you can hang out with them, but don't say I didn't warn you when you're in detention listening to those silly recordings about self-improvement,"

Peggy pursued her lip. "Okay, I will. I hope you can see that what they do is a good thing, and Tony isn't as bad as you make him,"

Sharon shrugged and walked off. Peggy stared after her for a bit and walked back to the group.

"What did she want?" Steve asked.

"Oh, just what homework I'd been given for science, so she could get some stuff from the labs," Peggy lied.

"Cool," Sam glanced at his watch. "Break is ending soon, let's head to the lockers,"


	11. NINE: Breaking The Most Important Rule

Stephen slipped through the crowd as lunch rolled in. Tony. Where was that short kid? It would be impossible to see him in this crowd. He finally made it to Tony's locker, where he was.

"Tony, I was looking for you since recess," Stephen panted, out of breath.

"Well I was trying to avoid you," Tony muttered, closing his locker.

"Look, I don't know what's up with you, but we need to initiate the heist now," Stephen stepped after him.

"Heist?" Tony frowned at the word. "That's a stupid name,"

"Well, the plan is, we'll stage a public fight in the cafeteria and announce a competition for the football game tomorrow," Stephen quickly explain, placing his hands on Tony's shoulders, directing him towards the cafeteria.

"Hey, I'm going to the circle," he said.

"No one's there, everyone's meeting us at the Cafeteria. They've got to pretend to be scared or worried. It'd be weird if it was just us two anyway," Stephen walked beside him.

"Why are you telling me this now? I thought we were going to do it later,"

"Becuase, it is impossible to find you,"

Tony smiled. "Well, I guess I'm good at avoiding people,"

"Not as good as Loki," Stephen shrugged, smirking at Tony.

"Alright, just some ground rules for the fake fight. No actual fighting, like punches, maybe some shoving, no personal topics, try not to get anyone else involved, and nothing too bad as so to get Fury involved," Tony said.

Stephen nodded, as they approached Natasha and Bucky, who was at the entrance of the cafeteria. "Okay, ready?"

Natasha and Bucky casually followed them into the Cafeteria, they were talking about the latest episode of their favorite show. They entered the cafeteria, the one place in the school they avoided with a passion.

The busy room was filled with tables, people and gross body odor. Tony took a deep breath. He saw some of the others sitting on a table. How they got a table, who knows. Multiple people were sitting on the ground or were leaving to some other place.

"Alright, are you ready?" Stephen whispered loudly.

"We're gonna need a big distraction to get everyone quiet," Tony said in a normal voice, barely audible.

Stephen looked around. "Okay..." he did a few gestures with his hands and pushed forward. A few empty chairs and a table crashed against the wall. Stephen shrugged, muttering sorry, as he shoved Tony in the same direction.

Tony stumbled back, as the chairs and table made a loud clanging sound as it hit the wall. "Hey!" he said loudly.

This caught many of the student's attention. Tony and Stephen awkwardly looked around then at each other.

Tony glared at Stephen. "You- why did you do that, do you want me to blow you to smithereens?" he stalked up to him angrily.

"Yeah, you'll blow all of us to smithereens with your faulty tech," Stephen said in his passive-aggressive calm tone, crossing his arms.

Tony pretended to blush. It wasn't too hard, all his needed to do was watch Stephen cross his arms with the know-it-all show off face he did in every class. "You take that back,"

"Why should I? It's true, we all know it," Stephen smirked, watching the audience they had gained at the edge of his eye.

Tony stood up on a chair so he was taller than Stephen. "Right, but at least I can create tech, what can you do, wizard,"

"I can conquer up spells you can only dream of," Stephen flicked his hand, causing a wisp of yellow shine shimmer.

"I don't need spells and magic to be strong, you suck at Combats, and...you got those physics questions wrong, Mr. Selvig taught it wrong," Tony thought up of something that did happen.

"You really are so arrogant that you think you're smarter than the textbook and a Ph.D. teacher," the words 'arrogant' echoed in his mind. Loki. Stephen blinked furiously as he paid his attention back to Tony.

"Well, Dad said I was almost Ph.D. level anyway!" Tony shot back. "So I guess so, yes,"

Stephen opened his mouth to say something about Howard Stark, but he held back. "Obviously you're the one who had it wrong since I got 2 percent higher than you on the test,"

Tony thought of something to say. In the two seconds of the rare silence in the cafeteria, he was suddenly conscious of the audience. "You just- I think- you think-" he spluttered. "You think you're so much better than everyone else,"

"And what do you think? You think the same but about yourself, what does that say about you, Anthony?" Stephen stepped forward intimidatingly, his face on centimeters away from Tony's face.

Tony was voice-less for a moment. No one called him Anthony except his father, and he always said it in anger, tone Tony had learned to flinch from, a voice that triggered memories. But when Stephen said it, it was also in a harsh voice. This felt different in Tony's head. But it was still Anthony in an angry voice.

It was a late reaction, by at least a second, but Tony flinched. Stephens face softened for a moment, then remembered he had an act to go through. "Are you really so smart? At Ph.D. level? Why don't you show it?"

Tony's mind rushed with thoughts. He just had to say one sentence and storm off, that's it. Stephen set it up perfectly, he just had to force his mouth to say something. "Fi- ine," he paused when his voice broke. He could cry now, Tony scolded himself, still horrified. "Behind the bleachers, at the game, tomorrow, be there, coward," he growled, leaning in a bit, making the close space even smaller for a moment. Tony had to physically force himself to not glanced down at his soft lips.

Tony stepped back, forgetting he was standing on a chair. He slipped and was about to fall, but Stephen's quick reflexes caught his hand as Tony stumbled backward, catching him. Stephen had no expression, the perfect passive-aggressive technique that he possessed. "Sure, Stark,"

Tony glared up at him, even Stephen was unsure if it was fake or real. Tony slapped Stephens hand off his and kicked the chair, which made a clang as it hit the ground. "Fine," he said sharply and stormed out, leaving the swinging doors to slowly swing still.

Stephen bent down and picked up the chair. He couldn't go after him, as much as he wanted to, he needed to go to his friends who were sitting down behind him.

As planned, Bruce, Thor, Natasha, and Clint left through the same door. Stephen sighed as he went to sit with Loki, Steve, Bucky, Wanda, Peggy, and Sam. As he sat down, he spotted the Hydra table begin whispering, their eyes shifting between the group who went after Stark and the group who stayed with Stephen. The plan was working.

Stephen looked back at his table. The others also looked back, also noticing Hydra.

"I think it worked," Peggy finally said. "That was perfectly down. Did you practice it?"

Stephen shook his head. "No, it wasn't,"

"Well, it definitely seemed real, Hydra will totally think we're fighting again," Wanda smiled. This was also her first time as an Avenger. Even though the group was still touchy about the memories that the Avengers left behind, no one could argue they were doing exactly what the Avengers were made for.

Stephen glanced to Loki, who was sitting beside him. She still had her eyes on the door. "You alright?"

"Yeah," she replied, turning back, picking at her lettuce.

"We're going to get back at those transphobic bitches tomorrow," Wanda assured her.

Loki pushed her tray forward. "Mhmm,"

There was some silence. "Honestly, what is wrong Loki, you're definitely not the same as you are normally," Steve finally said.

Loki looked at him. "...I'm just tired," she awkwardly stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom, no need to follow," she proceeded to leave.

Steve frowned. "Does anyone know anything about this Loki situation?"

"Yes, it's best if we leave her be and deal with it after the Hydra situation," both Wanda and Stephen almost said at the same time.

Sam nodded slowly. "Right...now what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"We're going to get Thor to somehow get Fury to come behind the bleachers, where we will have Hydra right in the act of it all. We just have to make sure we aren't caught being offensive. We are there to act as a defense, alright?" Steve explained.

Bucky finished his sandwich. "Okay, what's the competition going to be about?"

"I guess just a trivia," Stephen shrugged. "We're counting on them to interrupt,"

He nodded. "Alright, we got this,"

**...SceneChange...**

Tony rushed out of the cafeteria. His face was red, but at least it wasn't wet. He subconsciously rubbed his eyes and tried to calm down.

"Tony!" called Natasha, as the group followed him in like planned.

Tony turned around, now a lot calmer. "Yeah,"

"You good?" Clint asked, catching up.

"Yeah, I guess I'm good at acting," Tony smiled. "Like I am at everything else," he added jokingly.

"Sure," Thor laughed, as they continued to walk. They two groups now couldn't be seen together for the rest of the day and for tomorrow until the game.

"So where are we headed?" Clint asked, chewing on the sandwich he had.

"I guess the circle," Natasha shrugged, as they all automatically walked towards the doors.

As Clint and Natasha were telling Thor a funny story about how one of the students in Skilled Combats fell off their bicycle since Thor was is Enhanced Combats, Bruce was up in front, closing in on Tony, who was silent.

"What's up?" Bruce asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Nothing much," Tony shrugged.

"We haven't hung out properly in ages? What's going on?"

Tony blinked. He remembered his panic attack in Combats and about Peggy. "Um, I don't know,"

Bruce frowned. "Well, if you have nothing on, I'm going to a Science Convention on Saturday if you want to come,"

"This Saturday?"

"Yeah,"

Tony's face fell. "Oh, I can't, I have a thing with my father, something about representation and showing me off, I don't know,"

"That's fine, we can organize something later!" Bruce encouraged.

Tony shrugged. "Yeah I guess," he glanced away.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" Bruce began again.

"Nothing,"

"Is it about the changes thing you're worried about? I thought you were fine about Peggy, she's nice," Bruce frowned.

"Me too, I thought that fear had worn off," Tony sighed. "She's fine, it's not her,"

"Steve?"

"It's no one's fault. It's me. I'm too scared for a change I think. Because we were so happy in the Avengers. We were together but ever since the fight, we all changed, the groups and everything," Tony ran his fingers through his hair.

Bruce pursed his lips. "Hey. Just see what happens alright? Just go with it, it might be okay. Steve does really want to make it up to you,"

"I know, but it's his fault that I built a higher wall and don't trust him enough," Tony muttered.

"You liked him before didn't you though?" Bruce asked.

"Yes. As a friend, we were close," Tony said quietly.

"Do you miss him?"

"Yes,"

"Why did you fall out?"

Tony paused for a moment. "Bucky came, and he was more important to Steve than I was. He prioritized him I guess,"

Bruce nodded. "And what did you do?"

"I...thought he was lying about Hydra forming again. When I realized it was the truth, I went to help, but we ended up fighting because I accused Bucky of taking Hydra's side," Tony remembered.

Bruce sighed again. "And so Steve got mad about that so you went your separate ways after the group split to two groups to side with both of you,"

"Yeah,"

"Why don't you talk about it?"

"Because how do I know he won't take me for granted again? Find someone more important, like Peggy?" Tony muttered. He frowned. "Ugh," he covered his face in his hands and groaned.

"We can deal with whatever you're dealing with later, we have a problem," Natasha stopped them.

Tony looked up. Obadiah, Malekith and a few of their buddies were in their spot, laughing probably at a stupid joke.

"Hey shove, this is our spot," Clint called, crossing his arms.

"Really? I don't see your name on it," Malekith grinned.

"What do we do?" Bruce asked.

"Leave is best," Tony muttered.

"You evil being! Why did you treat my sister like you did this morning?" Thor yelled.

"Thor-" Tony tried to stop him, but Thor easily walked through his attempt to stop him.

"No one treats her like that," Thor repeated, shoving Malekeith.

"That's not a good idea," Bruce tried to say. "Thor!"

Thor ignored his friend and didn't move when Malekith tried to shove him back. "You don't get this without working out every day," he proudly patted his abs.

Malekith smirked. "I don't need some over-rated fat to be strong," he did spun around and used his gifted abilities (A/N Gifted abilities mean superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes. These abilities are part of most Enhanced, including Thor, Loki, Steve, and Bucky.) to kick Thor in the chest, causing him to fall back.

"Hey," Thor sat back up, using his feet to also kick Malekith back down from the ground. Malekith also fell.

"Are you trying to get in trouble?" Clint yelled. "Stop it, before someone gets hurt,"

"No, he needs to learn a lesson," Thor wiped the dust from his pants and gripped his fist, about to make a punch.

Natasha stepped forward, not to stop Thor, but to block one of his friends who decided to punch Thor. She twisted their arm and flipped them onto the picnic table. "What the hell," Natasha shrugged, as Thor began to have a fist fight with Malekith.

"No guys!" Bruce called, as Clint joined in, going back to back with Natasha. He glanced worriedly towards Tony.

Tony stared wide-eyed at the fight. This wasn't going to end well.

All of a sudden, he heard someone behind him. Tony stepped forward, turning to see who it was. Steve was there, blocking one of Obadiah's friends. He kneed him in the gut, and let go, leaving him to fall on the ground.

Steve turned around to Tony. "He was going to punch you," he rubbed his fist. "And we thought it was suspicious for them to leave the cafeteria so soon after your 'fight',"

Tony turned around again to see Sam, Peggy, and Bucky fighting Hydra. "What?" He turned back to Steve.

Wanda and Loki were now behind him. "What started this?" Loki asked, looking worried as well.

"Thor got mad at Melekith about..." Bruce shrugged, implying the morning incident. Loki frowned.

"Stark, what are you thinking? Fighting? I'm pretty sure that's against the rules," Obadiah faced Tony, holding a small dagger, placing it on the metal rim of his arc-reactor.

Tony held his breath. "We didn't bully innocent students,"

Obadiah shrugged. "No difference. Oh, Mr. Fury, it was a shame, I didn't know Stark's design was so poor, I didn't think it would have fallen off if I playfully pushed it," Obadiah mocked, putting pressure on the tip of the blade onto the reactor.

"Stop it," Stephen stepped in, flicking away the blade. "No use of Enhancements or Skills for advantage unless instructed," he repeated the rule that was said every year.

"Says you, remember this morning," Obadiah turned the blade dangerously close to his face.

"Oh I don't know, do you know what happened this morning? One of Melekith's friends almost decapitated me!" Loki stepped in between Stephen and Obadiah.

"Not my fault," Obidiah shrugged.

"You're the same group!" Loki hissed, her own blade suddenly shimmering into her palm, holding it up to his face.

"Oi," Obadiah grinned, tapping her blade with his.

"Alright, stop it," Tony said, holding out his hands.

"Watch out," Stephen said loudly, as he stepped behind Tony and summoned a shield, blocking an ax that flew in their direction.

"What the actual f**k?!" Tony yelled. "You could've killed me!" The shield disappeared. "How would you have responded to Fury if he found me with an ax in my back? How do you think Stark Industrie-"

"I don't think your father cares about you that much," Obadiah rolled his eyes.

But before Tony could even react, Loki made a series of quick motions with her hands and a green blast pushed Obadiah backward into the bush. "Don't disrespect Tony Stark, you filthy moron,"

Tony stared wide-eyed at the whole situation. He turned around when Stephen made another shield, blocking a flying knife. "I don't need your protection," Tony growled, shoving Stephen.

"Well, how else do you propose on defending yourself from flying knives?" Stephen sighed.

"You forget I'm a billionaire genius," Tony grinned, holding out his hand. His watch transformed into blocks of metal armor like objects, crawling around Tony's forearm. It turned into a gauntlet.

He turned his forearm horizontal and a blue hologramic shield was generated, deflecting a sudden blast from Obadiah's poorly made blaster. Tony shrugged and stepped to the side, holding his hand up, shooting harmless blasts to the base of the picnic table, making it fall, causing the people on it to fall.

"Your father is the billionaire though," Stephen sighed, as Tony turned back around, his back to Stephen.

Bruce had evacuated and left for the library. Wanda was trying to avoid the physical attacks, as she wasn't yet properly trained in combats. Every now and then, she sent a small red wisp of power to someone's leg to make them fall.

Loki turned sharply towards Malekith's group. She spotted Don behind Melekith and rushed forward. Malekith tried to shoot her with one of his own blasts, but she dropped to the ground and slid past him, through to Don, summoning a staff, knocking him over.

She stood up hastily and held the staff to his neck. "You," She held out her other hand up to blast Malekith over the bench as he turned around. "You will pay for what you did,"

"How? Kill me?" Don laughed, attempting to get up.

"No," Loki pushed down on the staff, making him stay down. She bent down and forced on her hand to his forehead, pushing him into a memory spell. "I'll make you relive what I did,"

Loki glanced around as one of the other foes approached her, attempted to swing a bat, but Loki twisted the staff she was holding and spun it around her, keeping her other hand on Don. The staff hit their shoulder. Loki flicked it up, making it hit their chin.

They suddenly fell as Natasha jumped from behind, doing a sequence of complicated moves on him. She shrugged when she saw Loki's magic. "We're all getting in trouble anyway,"

As Tony was fighting back to back with Stephen, Clint suddenly called something they hadn't heard in a long time.

"Avengers, Evacuate! Alert on the rear!" Clint yelled, hopping past the bushes and ran behind some bins.

Everyone scrambled for hiding places, Natasha pushed Loki back, both of them jumping behind a concrete seat. Steve and Bucky stopped and ran a bit before pretending to be walking normally. The circle was a convenient spot for evacuation, there were many hiding spots around it.

All except Stephen and Tony managed to get away. Stephen had tried to run off, but tripped over Tony's back foot, falling forward. This caused Tony to stumble forwards. Stephen had a magical whip conjured, which tangled around their legs.

"Stephen!" Tony hissed, pulling on his leg, which was stuck.

"I'm trying," Stephen did some motions with his hands but it wasn't working. In the end, he tried to tug as well, which didn't work either.

"Ugh," Tony groaned as he saw one of the stricter teachers, Mr. Leslie, walked up to them, looking down at them on the floor.

"Ahem, Mr. Stark, Mr. Strange, I'm sure you have a good explanation for breaking the rules," he glanced at Stephen's stuck magical whip and tony's gauntlet, which was will activate don his hand.

"Yes, you see-" Tony tried to speak, but Mr. Leslie interrupted.

"An explanation Mr. Fury will not be happy about hearing," He crossed his arms.

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**-DJ**


	12. TEN: Together Forever, Why?

Tony and Stephen followed Mr. Leslie to Fury's office. Tony was ignoring Stephen, mad at him for getting them in trouble. They weren't allowed to talk, as Mr. Leslie was strict.

It was silence until they found themselves on the couch in Mr. Fury's office.

"So. I hear that Mr. Leslie found you both tangled in one of Mr. Strange's magic weapons, correct?"

"Yes but-" Tony began but was cut off.

"Let me finish. The one rule, that is most important, I'm sure you know it,"

"No using Enhancements or Skills to one's advantage unless instructed," Stephen recited, also ignoring Tony.

Fury sighed. "And you both broke it. Both of you. What do you think your father would have to say, Mr. Stark,"

Tony looked away. His father would get more than mad. "We're sorry, and won't do it again," he muttered.

"I know you won't. The rivalry between is getting absurd. Last time you were both in here it was because a fire had started in the Science lab without anyone's knowledge because they were too distracted by your bickering. And the time before that, two bookshelves fell down because you two were squabbling over a book,"

Tony and Stephen glanced at each other at the same time. They understood what Fury thought this was. "Okay, yeah, they were our fault, but we promise this time we won't do it again," Tony repeated.

"And as I said, I know. I have asked Mr. Selvig and he says you haven't begun the science assignments that were given to you yesterday. I have arranged for your partners to be together so now you two will be partners," Fury said, staring at both of their horrified faces.

"You two will work together until you can be friends. You will both serve detentions during lunches starting tomorrow until Tuesday. You will sit together in your Math class, partnered in Combats and you will tolerate each other. Otherwise, your parents will be notified and suspension will be preventable,"

Tony blinked. If they worked together, his father wouldn't be told. He'd have to work with Stephen, but a small price to pay compared to what his father would do if he found out he'd been in a fight. "Okay, fine," he snatched a glare at Stephen.

Fury glanced at Stephen. He nodded. "Okay, a fair punishment,"

"Good. You will start by serving today's lunchtime detention,"

"But lunch is over, it's Enhanced Combats now," Stephen mentioned.

"You will miss that today, already notified your teacher. Don't worry, if you continue your rivalry, you'll miss more than a period. Go to the library, Miss Lavender will tell you what you need to do," Fury waved his hand. "Dismissed,"

Tony and Stephen walked out of Fury's office to find Mr. Leslie gone.

"I can't believe an enormous fight like that got past Mr. Leslie," Tony exclaimed, both of them making their way to the library.

"At least only us two go in trouble. It would be a lot harder to lie if everyone was there, he might think we assembled the Avengers again," Stephen shrugged.

"Well we didn't, so it wouldn't be lying," Tony said, slightly annoyed. "Anyway, now we're stuck with all of this 'togetherness' it's gross,"

Stephen rolled his eyes. "Terrible isn't it. Anyway, our science project should have the highest mark, with two geniuses on the job,"

"You mean one," poked Tony.

Stephen smirked. "Alright, one. I was trying not to offend you but if you insist, one genius," he looked forward.

Tony frowned. "Hey, I'm the genius right?" Stephen didn't answer. "Stephen!"

**...SceneChange...**

"Fury isn't coming, we must've got away with it," Thor said, giving up on looking at the door.

"Tony and Stephen aren't coming either, where are they?" Wanda said worriedly.

"They're serving detention, Fury's orders. Get in line," Mr. Coulson ordered, Wanda and Thor jogging into line. Coulson stepped in front of the Enhanced. "Okay, so like the last lesson, we will focus on defense without harm. Many of you destroyed the dummies last time, so this time, we'll use your partners,"

He walked down the line as he spoke. "The partner will pretend to be powerless, and use hand to hand, as most attackers will. You have to take them down without hurting them. Unlike the dummies, no accidents please,"

"What do you define as hurting someone?" asked Malekith, innocently. Loki scowled.

Coulson sighed. "No fatal hits, no sprains or broken bones, no open skin and I don't want to see blood, and not knocking them out,"

"Thank you, professor," Malekith thanked in a fake voice.

Loki gagged. "Ugh, I don't care if I get detention for accidentally knocking his head out,"

"We can't get too many detentions," Steve automatically said.

"You know the deal," Coulson pressed a button on a panel. Around them, multiple stands rose from the ground, with red buttons on each stand. There were two opposite each other at each mat. "Those pretending to be powerless, you protect the button. Those practicing try to press it. Take turns, partner up," Coulson announced, stepping back as everyone began to move around to get a partner.

**...SceneChange...**

Steve and Bucky were about to team up when Coulson walked up to them. "Sorry boys, but you two partner up all the time, so I'm going to have to split you up this time. You both have such similar Enhancements too, so it might be better if you practiced with different people," he said.

"Oh, okay," Steve frowned at Bucky. As Mr. Coulson left, Steve looked around. "You'll be fine right?"

"Yeah, sure," Bucky mumbled. Steve walked off towards Loki. Bucky looked around too. He spotted Thor and approached him. "Hey, Mr. Coulson split Steve and me, do you mind if, you know-"

"Sure thing Bucky!" Thor said ecstatically.

This left Wanda wondering about by herself. She would've paired up with either Loki or Stephen but both were unavailable.

"Hello, do you mind if we paired up?" said an unfamiliar voice from behind Wanda.

She turned around in surprise. There stood a boy with short scruffy blond hair, with a strange stone placed neatly in his forehead. "Um, sure," Wanda swore she saw his nose glitch.

"Sorry, there was no one else pleasant to pair with," he apologized politely.

"No...it's fine," Wanda was just getting used to the oddities this school presented.

"Ah yes, this..." he gestured to the gem. "My Enhancement. Let's get into the exercise. I'm Vision by the way," he added.

"Wanda," she introduced, stepping onto the mat, facing the button.

Vision had his back to the button. "Maximoff, I know. The new kid right?"

"Yeah..."

"Alright, I'll start as the powerless," he got into a stance and Wanda focussed.

She attempted to dodge around him, only to knock to arm out of the way, causing him to go off balance. He used that to pull her off the ground, making her tumbled back. In the fast motions, Wanda used his distraction to shoot a power blast towards him, aiming for the ground, just to startle and distract him.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the best at aim such a blast. It hit his arm, and he cried out as he stepped back. "Oh my god I'm sorry, I tried to aim for the ground," she stuttered, stepping forward. "But I'm still getting used to..." she trailed off as she saw his arm.

She expected blood or something normal to pour out of Vision's arm, but instead, it seemed his arm was made of multiple layers of tech cloth as it glitched back, forming a maroon skin color before it flickered to his skin color. "Wha..."

"Um, I'm an...android. Don't be sorry, Wanda. It was an accident," Vision explained.

"Right..." She stood there gaping.

"Where are Tony Stark and Stephen Strange?" he asked, dusting himself off.

"Uh, at detention," Vision didn't ask why. Wanda turned back to him. "You know Tony?"

"Apart from the fact that he is one of the most popular students here, yes. I knew him in our very early years in primary school. Unfortunately, I was a medically ill child and had to leave to be treated, the result in this," he pointed to his forehead.

"Right, what is that? If you don't mind me asking," she added hastily.

"We are not sure yet, but it stabilized me," Vision shrugged. "My turn," he stepped around Wanda and she walked over to where he was.

"Okay," she held up her arms in a defense position as Vision also got into a stance. His stone began to glow. Wanda's pupils dilated.

He went for the legs, so she tried to sidekick him, but it didn't work because he flew up over her, flipped down gracefully, seemingly defying gravity as he landed, and pressed the button.

"Hey, no fair, you didn't tell me you could fly!" Wanda exclaimed.

"You must always expect the unexpected," grinned Vision, with his British and almost electronic voice.

Wanda smirked. "My turn then. I have some secret moves too,"

**...SceneChange...**

**Clint's POV:**

I tightened my wraps around my hands and watched as Natasha entered the lockers to get changed. She and I have been friends for a long time, since primary school.

I arrived in year 3, and when I got there, she wasn't the Nat we all knew. You could even say she was one of the bullies. She hurt and teased people.

When I came, I decided to see if she was okay. I knew most bullies had a reason to be how they were, and sometimes you could help them. And I guess I did.

Ever since she's become nicer, some traits still stuck, but mostly the good ones. Of course, the usual 'Aw are you guys dating?' passed after a while.

I guess it's all cool now, except now when someone new meets us and they're all like 'Ohh are you guys dating?' Nat always goes, 'Nah, we're just great friends,'

I don't know why after a few years of laughing and agreeing, it felt wrong. Laughing and agreeing. It felt funny and I didn't like it. But each time she got a new boyfriend, I hated it. I resected it, but each of them seemed to have a bad impression of me. Maybe because I was her best friend.

I couldn't stand watching her with them, they were never good enough for her. But it wasn't as if I couldn't do anything. So I didn't.

"You good?" said one of my classmates.

"Huh? Yeah, just tired," I answered, realizing I had zoned out.

They ran off to the group again. It was just as always this lesson. Go to your special area and train your specialty. If someone else there has the same specialty, train with them or something. The teacher came around sometimes to assist us.

I left the bench and arrived at one of the gym extensions, a wide hall that had high-tech machinery to produce holograms of moving targets for us to train with. I grabbed a bow and arrow and began to shoot them as I activated it.

Six footmen like figures were sprinting around the dead-ended hallway that poked out of the main gym. All of them were attempting to attack me, from long-range to full on hand to hand, in which I had to use my bow as a sort of sword or staff.

I was exceptionally skilled in hand to hand and archery.

"Hey so guess what," I turned to Natasha, who had gone to the extension next to mine. The dark glass that separated the cubical like rooms made her visible as she put in the setting to her panel.

"Yeah?" I turned back to my room and shot one of the attackers.

"Keith broke up with me," she stated.

"Really?" I let go of my bow, but it slung off to the side, missing the attacker. "I thought you were dating Ethan?"

"Ethan was last year Halloween,"

"Ohh..." I side-kicked the attacker and swung around it, using one of my arrows to stab its neck. "What happened?"

"I found him with another girl,"

"That ass-hole. Wait, you said he broke up with you,"

"Yeah, he did. I mean, I was going to do so there and then, but he did it first," Natasha shrugged, punching one of her holograms.

"He had no shame huh?" I joked. Internally, I was screaming.

"Yeah, anyways, I decided to stay down about the whole dating thing. It's getting tiring,"

"What, dating or the guys?" I asked.

"Nah, the insults. All Zola can use against me is 'slut' or 'wh*re'," she grinned and shrugged.

"With a brain like his, you'd think he'd come up with better insults," I stabbed another guy with my arrow. "Single Natasha, that's a new concept. Tony will laugh,"

"He will won't he? He was no better,"

I did a flip and shot one of the other moving targets. "He got detention with Stephen, I think,"

"Really? I'm surprised we're not in Fury's office yet," Natasha frowned, doing a complicated sequence on one of the yellow men.

**...SceneChange...**

Tony sat in the library, sorting out the non-fiction books into piles. "20 minutes left,"

"Ugh, stop doing that! All you've done in the 45 minutes we've been here is tell the time every 5 minutes," Stephen said angrily, a few meters away on the floor, in the middle of more books.

"There's nothing better to do," Tony groaned.

"How about actual sorting the books! Or you know, have a normal conversation between friends!" Stephen gritted his teeth. Tony was getting on his nerves.

"We're not friends!" Tony yelled back, slapping one of the books onto a pile. "We're mere acquaintances forced together,"

"Really? Because I remember Tony Stark wanted to know the secret I knew about Loki," Stephen shot back.

"I was bored! And I needed a distraction!"

"So I'm...entertainment? Just a distraction? I thought we might actually be friends for once, but nevermind I guess," Stephen said saltily.

"How can we be friends? We're too similar, too arrogant and smart, as Loki put it," Tony scowled.

"We could if we tried," Stephen sighed.

"Why would I want to try," Tony hissed, his fingers clenching the sides of the book.

"Because maybe you'd changed," Stephen muttered.

Tony paused. "What do you mean?" he said, an angry tone still lingering.

Stephen put down the book. "When I first met you, you were the person my parents warned me about. Alcohol, throwing money everywhere, a literal playboy," he didn't look at Tony. "I was scared of you. But you were smart, and as you said, I wanted to be better. Ever since my sister died in the swimming pool accident, I wanted to be better because I couldn't save her,"

Tony stared at him. Stephen continued to avoid Tony's face. "But then when your and Steve's group joined and you became close to Steve, I thought you might change for the better. And you did. I thought maybe, just maybe we could be friends. But we stayed rivals."

Stephen shrugged. "And we are where we are now. I guess we aren't supposed to work well together, since we are, after all, smart and arrogant," he glanced at Tony.

He was staring at him. Stephen frowned back. Tony turned back to his books. "Thanks for the sad sappy story Strange, but I'm busy," he fiddled with the piles of books around him.

Stephen sighed in defeat. "Fine, but stay tolerable, I don't necessarily want Fury calling our parents about this,"

"Course," Tony answered.

They stayed silent for a long time until the home bell went. They both stood up to leave.

"Wait, do you want to plan when we're going to work on the science project, it is due next week," Stephen called after Tony.

Tony stopped and turned around. "I'm busy Friday, I have a schedule to have a competition with a Stephen Strange at the football game, and I have a dad thing on Friday," he checked his phone. "You free tonight?"

Stephen thought for a moment. "Yeah, I'm free,"

"Cool, meet me in front of the school gates when you get your bag, Happy will be there to pick us up," Tony organized, walking off.

Stephen nodded and took out his phone to call home.

**...SceneChange...**

As Tony walked out of the building, he was greeted by Natasha and Clint.

"Hey! How'd detention go?" Natasha asked, patting him on the shoulder as they approached.

"Alright, we have detention every lunch until Tuesday," Tony said.

"That's not bad," Clint made a funny face.

"...We also were forced to switch so now we're doing the science project together, we have to sit together in maths and partner up in Combats," Tony finished his sentence.

"That doesn't sound right, is it because you were found all tangled in Stephen's magic rope?" Clint frowned.

"He thought it was about our rivalry," Tony explained. "And we weren't going to tell him otherwise either, and get you guys in trouble too,"

"I knew it was fishy Mr. Leslie didn't come and fetch us in Skills," Natasha said, as they hopped down the stairs. "Anyway, this is where we part, Clint and I are going to the ice-cream store,"

"See you, Tony," Clint said farewell and Tony stood by the gate to wait for Stephen.

Tony sighed and leaned against the pole. Why was he being so mean to Stephen? It did seem like he wanted to be friends with him. Tony shook his head. No.

Tony distracted himself as Loki and Thor approached.

"How's it going?" Tony smiled.

"Not bad, Enhanced Combats was fun," Thor grinned. "I got to spar with Bucky,"

"How was detention?" Loki asked.

"Fury thought us all tangled was because we'd gotten into a fight about our rivalry, as he put it. Our punishment is to literally do everything together now," Tony sighed.

"I am sorry for acting impulsively early and got you and Stephen into trouble," Thor apologized.

"It's fine, we kicked their sorry asses," Tony shrugged. "Is tomorrows scheme still on?"

I glanced at Loki, whose eyes averted from his. "Um, yeah. I mean, we didn't exactly catch Hydra in the act enough so Fury would believe us,"

"Alright, see you tomorrow," Thor said goodbye just as Stephen arrived. He waved at him and made his way down the path.

Loki turned around to see Stephen and a faint pink flushed her cheeks. Tony frowned, remembering the Loki Dilemma. He'd deal with that later, he reminded himself.

"Bye," Loki waved quickly towards him and Stephen before walked after Thor.

Tony waved back and turned to Stephen, only to find himself also get a faint blush. Stephen had come out, and he had his scarf on, which Tony hadn't seen in a while. In fact, Tony resisted looking at Stephen all off detention because he was mad. He shook his head.

'It must be the cold wind,' he thought as he turned around to face the car which had approached earlier. He opened the back door for Stephen to go in first.

"Thanks," he said, entering.

Tony sighed as he slipped in as well and closed the door. It was going to be a long, weird homework session.

**Thank you!**

**Vote, COMMENT, ReQUeST, add to your library!**

**3 DJ**


	13. ELEVEN: After School And Homework Issues

Steve was walking down the path as he got off the bus. Bucky jumped off too and followed him home. Steve rolled up his jacket sleeve to inspect the hastily down bandage around his forearm. One of Obadiah's buddies had managed to cut him in the fight. Fortunately, it wasn't too deep and Steve had worse before.

"Jeez, Nat didn't do a good job," Bucky raised his eyebrows, seeing Steve scratch the sides of the bandage.

"Well, she did well considering they were bandages from Clint's locker and she did it really quickly because we were late for class," Steve explained, his fingers trying to crawl under the bandage.

"Don't scratch it, it'll get infected. I'll fix it up when we get to your place. Do you still have that medical box from when you used to get beat up in Primary?" Bucky asked, remembering the after-school sessions of him cleaning up Steve.

"Yeah, it's somewhere in my closet," Steve smiled, as they approached his house.

"I'm home, mom," Steve called, as they entered. He quickly pulled down his jacket sleeve as she walked from the kitchen to see him.

"Hello, Bucky," His mom greeted.

"Afternoon Sarah," Bucky replied politely. The two of them entered Steve's bedroom, where he opened the closet to find the box.

Bucky sat on the edge of his bed and watched Steve. Soon enough, he also sat on the bed. "Here," he opened the box and passed it to Bucky.

Bucky took out the bandages and disinfectant and began to unwrap Natasha's bandage. Steve's phone buzzed. He received a notification.

Messaging: left 'Singles Pringles Except Nat'

Steve frowned and showed Bucky the screen before pressing the notification. "You know why he left?" he asked.

"Nup," Bucky shook his head, tightening the new bandage on Steve's arm.

Steve opened the group chat and sent a text.

: -Why did Stephen leave?-

He got quick replies.

.Clint: -No idea-

: -does anyone know if we have detention bc of the fight?-

Nat69: -yeah, Fury thought Tony and Stephen were fighting bc of their rivalry thing. They got a bunch of detentions-

Steve turned to Bucky. "We aren't in trouble, Tony and Stephen managed to get us out of the story,"

"Did they get in trouble?" Bucky closed the box and leaned on Steve to see his messages.

"Of course, probably," Steve shrugged. He turned his attention back to his phone. A new notification pooped down from the top of his screen.

Messaging: -New message from 04- 

"Is that...?" Steve asked, opening it.

04: -Hey, got your number from Sam-

: -Sharon?-

04: -oh no, it's Peggy-

Steve paused and glanced at Bucky.

: -Oh, hi! What happened to your old number?-

04: -There were complications, I lost all my contacts. Sorry!-

: -It's fine, now we can talk :)-

Steve looked back at Bucky. "What do I say now?"

"You really do suck at romance talk aren't you?" Bucky smirked. "Your body normally does the whole talking thing,"

Steve frowned. "I can romance talk,"

"Really? Because no girl has gotten past 'Hi I'm Jessica,' yet," Bucky rolled his eyes. "You always cut them off before they ask you out," he playfully hit him with a pillow.

"I asked for help, not insults," Steve sighed. "Do I wait? Nat said not to text back too fast or else it sounds like you're too eager or something,"

Bucky frowned. "Well, that's only if you want to date her," he said slowly, testing Steve.

"Well," Steve blushed and looked back down at his phone. "Wait, she's typing,"

04: -I've got to get to work, talk later?-

: -No problem, have fun!-

Bucky patted him on the shoulder. "Ah well," he slumped down and lay on his bed.

Steve smacked him with the pillow and lay down next to him, putting down his phone. "Whatever, what about you, you used to be the lady magnet,"

"What happened was that you became attractive and muscley," Bucky laughed. _'And because I fell in love with you,'_ he thought in his head, no saying it out loud.

**...SceneChange...**

"I've already notified your father about Stephen's arrival," Happy mentioned as the car stopped and the began to leave the car.

"Thanks," Tony said as he closed the door. They began to walk up the big round stairs that circled the enormous entrance of the mansion.

"This is...big," Stephen stated, looking around.

"Yeah, wait till you see inside," Tony muttered, opening the door.

"Are you home Tony?" his mother called from the living room.

"Yes, I got Stephen here for homework. We'll be in my room," Tony called back, as they passed multiple rooms and went up to the stairs.

"Okay, don't be too loud, your father is working," his mother said.

"Wow," Stephen whispered, awed at the expensive house.

Tony roughly opened his bedroom door and chucked his bag on his bed. His room was surprisingly clean, only some messy clothes piles and a table filled with multiple random tech bits. There were broken DVD players, TV's, phones and many other gizmos.

"So..." Stephen glanced around the room. Tony sat down on his chair and motioned for Stephen to sit He sat on a couch that was next to the mechanic's table. "What do we want the project to be about?"

"Well I was thinking something...technical since that's my strong point, but if you want to do something easier than that's fine too," Tony shrugged, fiddling with a USB.

"Are you trying to insult me?" Stephen raised his eyebrow. "Or is it just part of your language?"

Tony spun on his chair to face him and stood up. "Well, if you didn't wear that ridiculous scarf that makes you stupidly attractiv-" Tony froze and dropped the circuit board that he was holding. "UNattractive, I said unattractive," he spluttered.

Stephen frowned as he rose an eyebrow. He fiddled with the tassels at the end of his scarf. "Wait," he smiled, amused. "You think I'm attractive with my scarf on?"

Tony avoided eye-contact. "No, I specifically said unattractive. It's not even cold, the heater's on, take it off, it's stupid,"

Stephen shrugged and unwrapped it, stuffing it in his bag. He turned to the table with all the bits and pieces. "You were saying about your idea?" he continued, trying to ignore Tony's slip up.

Tony picked up the circuit board again. He spoke slower this time. "I was thinking, we could make an interactive robot that can help with tasks,"

Stephen poked a bunch of tangled wires. "We're supposed to make and present the technological and scientific point of an invention at home, not create one ourselves,"

"And? If we make it, technically it's an invention at home. Loophole!" Tony sang. He passed Stephen a bunch of rolls of blueprints and sketches.

"You already started?" Stephen opened them and inspected them.

"Nah, I was already working on it," Tony said.

"Do you do this with all your school projects?" Stephen stared at the blueprints in awe.

"Yeah, I can't be bothered to do something special for school, I just find loopholes and incorporate my own projects into it," Tony shrugged. "It works. I get %105 every time, that's five more than what you get,"

"That's stupid," Stephen muttered, not knowing what to say, being too distracted by the plans.

"Really? Do you even understand that?" Tony went to sit down next to him on the couch.

"Yes..."

"You sound hesitant," Tony edged a smile.

"I sound hesitant because it's not going to work. Electricity doesn't work like that, and the way you've set out the command system won't work," Stephen pointed out.

Tony leaned over. "No, see, if I use copper as the transference element, positioned how I've drawn it, it should work. The command system isn't all on there, the coding is in my computer, where coding goes,"

Stephen put it down. "Right, inventing something completely new. That's fine. By the way, your drawing sucks,"

"Well I'm sorry I'm not an artist like Steve or Loki," Tony rolled his eyes.

"Loki? He draws?" Stephen asked.

"Um...yeah," Tony remembered the sketchbook he found. "He's pretty good," He stood up and clapped his hands. "Right, so to begin, I've got the plans all set, we just need to make it,"

"What do you want me to do," Stephen asked.

Tony paused for a moment to think. "Well, okay. I'll make the actual invention, you do the actual project,"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'll make the invention and you write out the technological and scientific point of view of it. We'll run out of time if we do it back to back, we'll have to do it at the same time. If you can understand my blueprints you'll be able to do that," Tony explained.

"Oh, okay," Stephen got out his laptop and began to inspect the blueprints as Tony went back to the table to continue building his robot.

**...SceneChange...**

**Group Chat - Single Pringles Except Nat 4:56 pm**

.Clint: -where even is Tony, he hasn't seen these messages yet-

Nat69: -probably got his head stuck in a TV or something-

Loki: -He's with Stephen doing the science thing-

: -Is that one of the punishments?-

.Clint: -Yeah-

added 04 to the conversation

: -That's Peggy by the way-

: -she just texted me but she's busy now -

**Private Message - Nat69 4:59 pm**

Nat69: -ooh is Peggy the lucky girl?-

: -No, we're just friends-

**Group Chat - Assassins 5:03 pm**

Nat69: -Bucky, is Steve just friends with Peggy?-

Nat69: -Don't leave me on read, BARNES-

: -They are just friends...but maybe not for long who knows-

: -I don't think Sharon approves though-

: -I think she had a crush on Steve too-

Nat69: -had?-

: -she did?-

: -pfft it was obvious, are you really that blind?-

: -We're sitting right next to each other, couldn't you just tell me that?-

: -says you-

Nat69: -shoot Ethan's calling me-

: -Ethan? I thought you were dating Kyle?-

Nat69: -I was, but then we broke up yesterday and Ethan is probably going to yell at me-

Nat69: -I'll be back bye-

: -good luck-

**...SceneChange...**

"Hold on, I'm going to the bathroom," Tony said, putting down something and leaving the room.

Stephen took a breath. He relaxed a bit and paused typing. He glanced around the now silent room. It was rather nice.

'Of course, it's nice, he's rich,' Stephen said to himself. He glanced at his bag on the couch, where his scarf had spilled out of. He rubbed the fabric a bit and frowned. What did Tony mean when he slipped up?

Stephen glanced at his watch. They'd been here for an hour. He turned around to check the table Tony was working on. He seemed like he was almost done, what the hell, Stephen thought.

At first, he was hesitant because he didn't think Tony would be able to finish an invention No One had ever made before Tuesday, but here he was, an hour in, almost freaking done.

Stephen pursed his lips as he turned back to his normal position. His head turned to the side when he heard Tony's phone buzz continuously. It must be the group chat he left. He glanced at the door. Tony wasn't back yet.

Stephen quickly snatched up the phone and peered at the messages. He couldn't unlock the phone, but the notifications were enough.

.Clint changed the group chat's name 5:53 pm  
Single Pringles

Banner101 sent a message to Single Pringles 5:53 pm  
Did Nat break up?

Nat69 sent a message to Single Pringles 5:55 pm  
Yeah taking a break from it all

GodOfThunder sent a message to Single Pringles 5:55 pm  
Where is Tony?

Nat69 sent a message to Single Pringles 5:56 pm  
Who knows. Probably 'doing' homework with Stephen if you catch my drift ;)

**Loki is calling you...**

Stephen jumped as Tony's Star Wars ring tone rang out. He hurriedly put the phone down on the table again. He waited quietly for Tony to hear it and hurry up. Nothing happened.

He glanced at the table, where his phone was dancing. He sighed and picked it up again to answer it.

"Hello, Stephen speaking,"

"Stephen? Where's Tony?" Loki's feminine voice was clear through the speakers.

"He went to the bathroom, I'm doing the science project with him,"

"Oh, well I'll just call back then,"

"What were you going to ask him?" Stephen asked quickly. He suddenly felt a weird uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

"Nothing important really, just something regarding school," Loki hung up. Stephen frowned.

He quickly dropped the phone as the door slammed opened and Tony rushed in, shutting the door closed. He shot his head up to face Stephen. "Oh sh*t you're here, I forgot," he mumbled.

Stephen stared wide-eyed. "What- What happened?" he asked when he spotted Tony's red eyes.

Tony shook his head and walked over to his table again. "Nothing happened," he answered, wiping his face with his sleeve. He picked up some pliers and continued tinkering.

"It's not nothing, you were gone for ages," Stephen stood up.

"Didn't you hear? The shouts?" Tony muttered.

"No..."

"Of course he made the walls soundproof," Tony grumbled quietly so much so, Stephen had to step closer to hear him.

"Soundproof? Wait, what happened," Stephen frowned.

"Nothing happened, stop pestering me. Why do you even care, I'm a jerk, a- a-complete idiot-" Tony choked on his words, stepped back. Stephen stepped forward, lifting up his hand to try and calm him down.

Tony flinched.

Stephen lowered his hand in surprise. "Tony..."

"Just, go away! Please..." Tony covered his face with his hands as he leaned on the wall.

"No, wait," Stephen stepped closer slowly, placing his hand on Tony's arm, pushing down his sleeve. A sharp red mark was placed on his forearm. Stephen frowned, moving his hand to Tony's, moving it out of his face.

Stephen tilted his head to look closer at Tony's face. Tony's other hand had subconsciously lowered as well. There was a slit on his left eyebrow, the blood already dried up. His face was red and his left eye was slowly growing purple. "What happened?"

Tony leaned his head into Stephen's hand. "I'm sorry," he whispered and slid down the wall to sit down.

Stephen paused to take everything in before sitting down next to him. "What happened?" he asked softly.

Tony didn't answer straight away. "He wanted to know why you were here,"

"Who?"

"Howard,"

Stephen took a deep breath as quietly as he could. Howard. Not 'dad'. Not 'father'. Howard. "What did he do?"

Tony stayed silent. Stephen waited, staring forward. He felt Tony leaned on him sideways, his head fitting in perfectly onto his shoulder as Stephen heard him quietly sobbing. The room was silent.

Stephen continued to stare at the table's leg before his eyes flickered around the room.

He noticed the small dents on the wall that was pushed on to close the door.

He noticed the indented chipped door, where objects were used to barricade it.

He noticed the loosened lock on the window.

He noticed the box of medical supplies under the bed.

Stephen's breaths shortened.

The small pile of broken glass next to the dustpan in the corner.

The faint smell of alcohol.

The locked closet.

The dried blood stains.

The knife that was loosely hidden in the bedside table.

Stephen's hand found itself clasping over Tony's as he swallowed. "What did he do?" Stephen repeated slowly. There was no answer. Stephen turned his head to face Tony. He was asleep.

Stephen sighed and let go of his hand, propping his head against the wall. Stephen then walked over to his bed and took off a blanket and a pillow and walked back to Tony.

He placed the pillow under his head and then neatly put the blanket over him. He stood there for a second, contemplating what to do.

In the end, he packed up his stuff and quickly scribbled a note.

'_Went home. Talk tomorrow, Stephen'_ Stephen stared at it. _'Stephen 3'_ He took the sticky note off the pad and looked around to see what to stick it on. His eyes landed on his scarf that laid on the couch next to his bag.

He blinked and thought for a moment before picking it up and kneeling beside Tony, wrapping it around his neck softly. He placed the note on the shiny button that he used to clasp the scarf together.

He stood up, grabbed his back and quietly walked out.

**...SceneChange...**

The sun rose and Tony's alarm screamed. Tony woke up, startled. He banged his head on the wall he was propped up against.

"Wha...t? he slowly leaned forward, standing up, the blanket on him fell off. He looked around the room. The pale yellow sunlight shone into his room. He looked down. There blanket and pillow that was supposed to be on his bed was on the floor in the corner of his room.

He frowned, trying to remember the previous night. Stephen. Homework. Howard. His hand went up to his face to feel his eyes. It hurt when he pressed it. Everything after Howard was a bit fuzzy.

Tony rushed to the bathroom and stared into the mirror. His eye was still slightly purple, not something easy to hide. His eyes fell on the scarf he didn't notice earlier. He frowned as took off the sticky note.

_'Went home, talk tomorrow, Stephen 3'_

Tony clutched the scarf. What the f*uck happened last night? He skimmed his memories.

Slamming the door. Stephen was still there. His breaths became heavy. Corner. He fell asleep.

Good. Nothing bad. Tony sighed and then frowned again. Why did Stephen sign off with a love heart? He had detention AND maths today. Sh*t.

Tony bit his lip. Stephen figured it out. He wasn't that dumb. Tony's hand shook a bit. He slowly walked back to his room.

He noticed his phone on the couch. He picked it up.

89 unread messages from single pringles 11:47 pm

3 missed calls from Loki 7:14 pm

sent a message 8:48 am  
Good Morning

Tony stared at the 83 unread messages. Stupid group chat. Why did Loki want to speak to him? And Stephen's message. Sent at 8:48 am. Tony glanced at his clock. It was 9:01 am.

'Sh*t I'm late for school,' Tony panicked, stuffing his phone in his bag and unlocking his closet to find something decent to wear. 2 minutes later he climbed out of his window and ran to school, not realizing he forgot about Stephen's scarf.

**\OoO/**

**ahhhhhhh**

**3 DJ**


	14. TWELVE: Rivals

**A/N:**

**I realized it might've gotten confusing or hard to remember all the drama that is happening to the characters. If so, here is a quick list of what is happening:**

**+Who is Loki's crush?+**

**+Tony and Stephen's Rivalry+**

**+Clint's feelings or disapproval of Nat's dating+**

**+Tony's fear of change+**

**+Tony and Steve's past+**

**+Bucky likes Steve, but Peggy...+**

**+Loki's BPD+**

**Ah, I'm juggling all of these, I hope you guys understand the plot! 0p0**

Natasha clenched her phone as she walked into school. Three of her ex's had called her to tease her about her break up. She practically pushed Thor and Loki went she walked in, not seeing them.

"I'm so sorry, I was busy thinking," Natasha said suddenly, stepping back realizing it was them.

"No problem. Ex's?" Loki asked. He had his hair slicked back and was wearing a jacket.

"Yeah," Natasha rubbed the back of her head.

"Incoming!" Clint's voice screeched as a water balloon exploded at Natasha's feet.

"Clint!" she yelled, as he and Sam ran past, with some water balloons in their arms.

"Sorry!" Clint called back, running out of the school front doors into the gardens, bombarding Sam with some balloons.

Natasha turned back with a silly grin. "Ah, those idiots,"

"Have you seen Tony at all?" Loki asked.

"Nope,"

"He's normally early," Loki sighed.

"Anyways, we have football practice at lunch, we're competing against Westwood Academy after school," Thor grumbled.

"Ugh, tryouts were horrible last week," Natasha made a face. "We shared the oval with the Westwood Cheerleaders and they were all 'I'm so sexy with this short ass skirt' honestly,"

Loki chuckled. "It'll be an interesting game tonight then,"

"Why don't you become a cheerleader brother, you would be great. Like Nat, you are very flexible and acrobatic," Thor suggested.

Loki made a face at Thor. "Why would I join? Anyway, there aren't any open slots,"

"I think you'd make a good cheerleader," Natasha winked jokingly. "Anyways, we'll be busy at the game but everyone else will have to be behind the bleachers to do the heist thing,"

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Thor shrugged. "I won't be able to make it anyways, I'll be on the field,"

"Westwood, here we come," Steve said as he and Bucky entered the hallway.

"Steve! You also won't be able to make it to the heist, you will be with me on the field," Thor welcomed.

"Correct. Bucky will be there though," Steve grinned.

"Yeah," he glanced at Natasha.

"Where's Peggy?" Natasha asked.

"No idea, why would I know?" Steve frowned.

Natasha nudged him and headed off. "I need to get to my locker, see you around," Steve waved goodbye and turned the group.

"How is your arm?" Thor asked as they headed to the next level for Steve's locker.

"It's fine, Bucky fixed it up fine,"

Bucky held his bag straps and followed them. "So...any thoughts on Sharon?"

"She's alright," Thor said.

"I don't know..." Natasha muttered.

"She helped with last year," Steve defended.

"Yeah, went against us," Loki stated. "And she didn't even tell you she was a Carter,"

"So? She might've been intimidated," Steve said.

"She is a very good student, so she is skilled to act as an agent," Natasha pursed her lips.

"I think she warned Peggy about us," Bucky said. "She went all secretive when she pulled Tony and Peggy to the side,"

"Maybe it was a secret,"

"She hates Stark," Thor pointed out.

"I guess," Steve sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway,"

"Yeah, it does though. She's hanging out more and more with us," Bucky reminded.

"What do you want us to do? Go through the Avengers Initiation process?" Loki smirked.

There was a dull silence before Bucky spoke again. "No, just to see if we were going to let her get closer to us if you know what I mean,"

"I have a feeling she's using Peggy to get closer to us. We're one of the most popular groups, and she's never tried to get close before," Loki shrugged.

"We probably shouldn't be talking behind her back," Steve finally said, uncomfortable with it.

"Alright," Bucky said. The group made their way to the lockers as they began to talk about Thor's holiday break he was going to have in a few weeks.

**...SceneChange...**

Wanda stood at the science table as the teacher spoke about the experiment. After a long explanation of precautions and how to's, Wanda turned around to find a partner. She had no friends in this class, and she normally resorted to partnering with one of the remainders at the end.

Instead, she heard a familiar British voice. "Partners again?" It was Vision.

"Oh, Vision, yes, course," Wanda smiled, putting on her safety glasses.

"We have to stop meeting up like this," Vision chuckled, placing the beakers onto the marble surface.

"What? As a form of last resort partners?" Wanda frowned.

"Well, do you want to meet up as a first choice partner?" Vision asked, glancing up at her.

Wanda's eyes widened as she tried to decipher what he said. "Are you- are you asking me out?" Wanda finally spluttered.

Wanda swore she saw Vision's eye color flash. "I mean, if you don't want to,"

Wanda shook her head quickly. "Oh, no I would love to. I'm just surprised,"

Vision smiled. "Well then, how does meeting me at Benny's Ice-Cream parlor sound?"

"Wonderful," Wanda grew a wide smile, as they worked quietly, conducting the experiment. _'I wonder what Pietro would've thought?'_ Wanda said to herself, glancing at the blonde work.

**...SceneChange...**

Stephen hadn't seen Tony at all today. He waited out at the front of the school early, but he was nowhere in sight. It was almost lunchtime and all Stephen saw of Tony was that he found his locker hacked with his scarf inside, with no note.

Stephen could say he was disappointed. And worried. He shut his locker and wrapped his scarf around his neck as usual. He gripped his normal sandwich and headed to Fury's office to attend his detention. Hopefully, Tony will show.

As Stephen walked up to the seats in front of the office, he stared into the mirror. There was a one-way mirror in Fury's office, the led out to the corridor where the student's waited. It was like an interrogation room.

Stephen blinked at the mirror. He was not attractive. He didn't look different with or without the scarf.

"You look fine," Tony's usual snarky voice came from behind him.

Stephen's smiled. "Hey-"

Tony cut him off. "Shut up, I don't want to hear your voice today. Let's just get through this detention,"

"But we have maths after,"

"And what's this, you're still talking," Tony snapped.

Stephen was about to reply but Mr. Leslie walked up to them. "Hello, Stark, Strange. For today's detention, you shall be re-sorting the old files into new boxes. Follow me," he continued to stroll down the corridor.

Stephen glanced at Tony as they quietly followed him. Tony stared forward, ignoring him. Stephen sighed and made their way down to the lower levels where storage was.

"Okay, the files are labeled, just put them in alphabetical order into the boxes," Mr. Leslie explained. "I'll be outside in the other rooms," he closed the door and they heard his footsteps fade.

Stephen looked around. He saw that many of the files had the S.S.R. logo on it. The school SHIELD was in the olden days. "Alright..."

"No talking. I'll start with A to G, you go H to M," Tony interrupted.

Stephen blinked. "Okay then," he stepped around the metal storage shelves with new empty boxes on them with lettered labels.

He picked up some of the files and began putting them in their respective boxes, occasionally glancing at Tony.

Tony glared at the floor and walked over to another pile, where most of the A-files were. He grabbed a few and went over to the A-box to put them in. As he chucked them in, he noticed one of the files had bright color doodles and highlighter marks on it.

He curiously took it out and froze.

_: The Avengers Club 01 Project Expose:_

Tony remembered this file. Each club had to document their doings and budgets and all of that information. When Fury closed the Avengers, he took those documents.

Tony slowly opened the file that Clint had graffitied on the previous year. Inside was the report for Project Expose when Hydra wanted to target the younger students and they had to give them justice.

Of course, Fury never would've allowed that that's why Project Expose was in complete code, thanks to Natasha, and the only English on there was Bruce's banana bread recipe. He went through the coded files and came to the album.

There were multiple photographs, some selfies of them in front of the 'crime' scene, or just random photos of them in the art room, where their club meetings were held.

Tony smiled as he looked through these photos. He turned around and ran to the pile of files again, and took out the other files with the Avenger titles.

_: The Avengers 02 Project Sabotage :_

_: The Avengers 03 Project Zola Sucks :_

_: The Avengers 04 Project Civil War: -That's not a project dummy,_

Tony stared at Natasha's messy handwriting next to Clint's title. He never knew a file had been made for the fight he and Steve had. Was it so much a threat to be made into a file? He opened it and looked inside.

There were only three bits of paper. One had the lists of who was on who's side from the fight the previous year in Clint's handwriting. Tony put the other two on the front and frowned.

They were the apology letters Fury forced him and Steve to write when they were serving detention. He never gave them back to us, he must've just put them in here.

Tony read his one, which was hastily written, Tony was angry back then, the paper wrinkly and looked like it had been scrunched up multiple times, which it had.

-_Steve,_

_Why should I apologize? You were arrogant and didn't listen to me. You preferred to side with your NEW best friend._

_Tony Stark-_

Tony slowly opened up the neatly folded one by Steve and read it.

_-To Tony,_

_I'm glad you're back to normal with the others, I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. _

_I've been on my own since my dad left. I never really fit in anywhere. My faith is in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either. _

_Locks can be replaced, but – maybe they shouldn't. I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought – by not letting you fight Hydra with us, I was sparing you, but... I can see now, I was really sparing myself. I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. _

_I wish we agreed, I really do. I know you were only doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do, it's all any of us should. So no matter what, I promise if you - if you need us. If you need me, I'll be there. __**(A/N Totally not his letter to Tony at the end of CA;CW but edited slightly)**_

_Steve Rogers-_

"Are you...alright?" Stephen's voice broke through Tony's thoughts.

Tony looked up, confused. He automatically lifted his arm to wipe his face, only to find it wet, from tears again. When he realized, he turned around sharply, turning his back to Stephen. "Not again," he mumbled.

"Tony, we need to talk," Stephen insisted.

"No, we don't," Tony turned back around, stuffing the letter back into the file and grabbing the rest. He walked over to the box and put them inside. "There's nothing to talk about,"

Stephen sighed. "Are you sure? Last night-"

"Last night? Do you mean when you saw me at my lowest? What's there to talk about? How I've been getting these subconscious breakdowns that are getting out of my control? Or that my fear is coming true and- it's doesn't...I can't-" Tony rambled, his hands shaking as he tried to pick up another file.

Stephen noticed this. "Tony, you have to talk to someone about this,"

"About what?" he snapped.

"Howard,"

Tony froze. "What do you mean?" he whispered.

Stephen pursed his lips. "I thought you said those injuries you always got were from fighting bullies after school,"

"They are," Tony answered, trying to keep up his facade.

"Sure," Stephen flickered his eyes.

Tony swallowed. The room was quiet but the tension made it sound like there was a white noise blasting into their ears. He stared at Stephen, trying not to break eye contact. His lips parted a bit as he tried to control his breaths but keeping eye-contact got harder as his vision began to blur from the tears.

"Tony," Stephen stepped forward as Tony stumbled backward.

"No, stop," Tony said hastily. "Stop," Stephen let go of his arm when he realized his muscles were tense. "It's just a phase, I'll get out of it in a few days, I'll be normal again,"

Stephen sighed. "Look, your father-"

Tony stepped forward, almost falling into Stephen's arms before standing back up, his hands on his arms. "Please stop, please," he whispered in a voice that Stephen did not recognize as the confident Tony Stark he knew.

Stephen glanced down at his short friend who he had been worrying about all morning, who was staring at the ground. He gave a moment before speaking. "Fine. But if you need someone, I'll be there," Stephen said, stepped back.

Tony looked up at him as he turned around and went back to filing. Tony watched him continue organizing in silence. He sighed and also turned back to his pile of files. The room was silent again, just the faint sounds of shuffling paper.

_"Why did he have to agree?_" Tony thought furiously as he wiped the continuous stream of tears off his eyes while he placed more files into a box.

**...SceneChange...**

Loki wandered around the library, his eyes dancing on and off random book titles as he barely skimmed the shelves. He turned his head as someone entered the aisle.

"Oh hello Wanda," he smiled.

Wanda looked up. "How's it going Loki?" she walked up to him.

"As always," he paused, taking out a book. "How about you?"

"Vision asked me out," Wanda shrugged, staring at the books. She turned her head when she heard Loki splutter.

"Vision? I didn't think he'd be one to do that," Loki smirked.

Wanda rolled her eyes. "Right. Anyway, has Stephen told you about the thing?"

Loki frowned. "What thing?"

Wanda's eyes widened. "Um, no...thing,"

Loki raised his eyebrow. "Nothing? You just said something, what was he supposed to tell me?"

Wanda shook her head. "No, I mistook my thoughts for Tony...he had to tell him something," she lied.

Loki crossed his arms. "Right...is this about...my infatuation for someone?"

Wanda's face flushed white. "Um, no...how did you know that?"

"So it is about that! Knew it,"

"Hey, I didn't say anything," Wanda frowned.

"You didn't have to. Stephen and Tony suspected it was one of them, and Stephen probably told you something about it," Loki made a know-it-all's face.

"They thought you had a crush on one of them? He didn't tell me that, he just said he knew who to pair you up with," Wanda said, unsure.

Loki paused. "What?"

"Because...Stephen and I thought you were lonely...so we came up with a plan,"

"To hook me up with someone?" Loki scrunched up his nose.

"I guess? Stephen said he knew someone to do it with, but he never got back to me about it so I figured he'd already- hold on, you have a crush on Tony or Stephen?" Wanda exclaimed, realizing what he said.

Loki squinted as his cheeks showed a tinge of red. "On one of them, used to anyways, not anymore," he explained hurriedly.

Wanda gaped at Loki for a second. "Right, okay," she stared at him with a grin. "Used to? Why?"

"Other reason," Loki waved off. "Anyway, about Vision, where'd he taking you?"

"Um, Benny's Ice-Cream Parlour,"

"Don't choose mint, I found sultanas once,"

"Gross,"

"Oh and don't sit in the corner table, that's near the bathroom and it stinks,"

**...SceneChange...**

**Clint's POV:**

A crush? I don't think so. Probably overprotective big brother mode probably, I thought as I waited around the corner for Natasha to finish talking to Ethan, her most recent ex-boyfriend.

It seemed ages since he pulled her aside and I had to stay behind this corner for them to talk.

"No, I'm taking a break from dating,"

"So when I asked for a second chance you don't give it but when Zack did two months ago, you let him?"

"It's because of you I'm taking a break, there's no special reason as to why I did it now,"

"So why did you break up with me?!"

"Because I caught you making out with Becky!"

I crossed my arms, leaning against the wall. If we were still part of the Avengers, we would go through the Break-Up Routine, which mostly applied to Nat since she broke up with people the most.

If we were, I would love to be the one to take the photo of Ethan's face when he realized he'd been pranked. The Break-Up Routine was harmless, a silly prank to mess with them and that's it.

I hastily stood up straight when I heard a yell and Nat came storming around the corner.

"Come on," she walked down the corridor.

"What happened?" I asked, following her.

"He tried to get a second chance," she scoffed. "He didn't understand,"

"I was thinking about the Break-Up Routine, it would be funny with Ethan," I mentioned.

"Yeah, it would," Nat laughed, showing her dimple. "But we can't,"

I shrugged. "Yeah, sadly. You won't be there tonight, for the heist. Who even called it Heist? It's not a freaking heist now is it?" I joked. It was a stupid name.

"Nah, I'll be cheerleading Thor and Steve on the field," she smiled. "You will though. If it gets violent, make sure to land some punches from me,"

I grinned. "I'm counting on it. I never got a chance to get Malekith yesterday,"

I glanced at Nat, who was still smiling. I fazed into a trance. No wonder she managed to get so many boyfriends. She was indeed very pretty. My smile slowly faded to frown. I would never be able to one of her boyfriends. Maybe it's for the better, to not be one of her potential exes.

I turned to face the front. Tonight was going to be interesting.

**Ahh, it's progressing. I've got it all planned...**

**Shout out to my fellow IronStrange shippers! Love you guys :D**

**Get ready**

**Vote, COMMENT, ReQUeSt and Add to Your library!**

**3 DJ**


	15. THIRTEEN: Winning

**Warning: Mild attempts and implications of/at rape, bad language, and mild injuries**

The road and carpark in front of the football field were busy with students, parents, and cars. The group had planned to meet at the entrance gate but it was far too busy so they changed it to the front of the changing rooms.

"It's like the whole school came," stated Clint loudly, over the many other people's voices.

"I think they did, it's the first game and we're versing Westwood," responded Steve, who was already changed into his uniform and was now strapping on some of his paddings.

"Everyone's really riled up, I didn't think it was such a big deal," Wanda approached, wearing a winter coat and scarf to shield herself from the sharp winds.

"It's Westwood, they're really competitive and we're really good, so of course the rivalry's serious," Clint smirked.

Steve, Clint, Wanda were already there, and Natasha was still to come. Tony was stuck at the gate, waiting for Happy to finish giving him the rules and curfew his father ordered. Bucky and Stephen were making their way through the crowds towards the group.

"It's like a maze in there," Bucky exclaimed, white mist flowing out of his mouth as he panted.

"Where's Tony?" Stephen asked, putting his hands in his pockets, his scarf roughly wrapped around his neck.

"He's waiting at the gate with Happy. He'll be with us soon," Steve answered, turning around to greet Thor, who had just finished getting changed.

"Where is Loki?" Thor asked, grabbing his padding and begun putting it on him.

"He was here a second ago," Steve said, looking around.

"He went to find Tony I think," Clint said, annoyed at himself for wearing a thin jacket.

"We should go behind the bleachers now, everyone's moving to their seats," Stephen mentioned, as people began to move in the same direction up the stairs to find their spots, clearing the field.

"Tell Tony that we left," Wanda reminded Steve as they began to make their way past all the people.

"Good luck," Bucky waved.

"You too," Steve smiled after them as they walked off. He turned back to his padding and made sure everything was alright.

"Hey, Steve!" yelled another person. Steve looked up in annoyance. "You gonna do better than fall down this time?"

Steve frowned. "You were the ones who cut my laces shorter so I couldn't tie them properly," he said in response.

"We're going to beat you today," Thor said to the other guy.

He shrugged in pretendance. "Don't give yourself false hope,"

Thor grimaced as he left. "Westwood is so annoying,"

"We'll beat them this year, and maybe even catch them properly cheating," Steve sighed, grabbing his bag as they both entered the lockers again to put their stuff away.

A few moments later, Natasha came rushing into the female changing rooms. "Sorry that I'm a bit late, the parking is so busy!"

"It's fine," said one of her partners. "We'll meet you outside, we'll have to begin warm-ups without you thought,"

"That's fine," Natasha waved and continued into the empty locker room. She put her bag at one of the empty lockers and took out her Student Card and swiped it at the panel.

"Welcome, Natasha Romanov," said the electronic voice. The locker was now assigned to Natasha, along with her passcode.

She sighed as she chucked her bag into the locker and zipped it open. She laid out her cheerleader dress and took off her jacket. She subconsciously glanced around before taking off her shirt.

She was about to grab her dress when she heard male laughter near the entrance of the locker bays and then footsteps into the female one. She watched as she identified the footsteps to be male, a male footballer.

She grabbed her dress and managed to put it in front of her chest when the male stood in between her aisle of lockers.

"Hoo, I found one," he muttered to himself, approaching her. Natasha stared as he walked towards her.

She stood straight as he got uncomfortably close for someone who was shirtless.

"You got something under that?" he raised his eyebrow, attempting to move her hand which was clutching the cheerleader dress covering her chest.

She slapped his hands out of the way and maintained an emotionless stare into his eyes.

"Ooh, feisty, I like this," he frowned as he inspected her body, his eyes following her silhouette. "You're that Romanov girl," he wavered.

Natasha bit her lip. He recognized her from the time she pretended to seduce one of the Westwood players as a distraction so Steve and Sam could get into the boy's locker bay to check a Hydra's bag. It was a spur of the moment decision.

"You do this often?"

"Yeah, I do cheerleading, problem?" Natasha hissed in her low voice. She wasn't %100 sure of his intentions yet, but she was getting an idea.

"The girl talks," he sneered, placing his hand on her cheek.

She tilted her head the other way. "You need something?" she asked.

"Why do you think I came in here?" he spread his arms wide to gesture at the girl's locker room. Natasha didn't answer. "I'm here for you, pretty," he tried to place his hand on her shoulder but she turned a bit so he missed.

He frowned and tried to pull the dress so she would let go. Her tight grip didn't let him. "You have such a pretty body, why don't you use it?" he asked, using more strength.

That's it, Natasha concluded. "I will use it," she placed her arm around his neck and used it to push herself forward and jump on the side of the lockers to get herself onto his back to push him down.

He hit the bench in the middle and fell unconscious. Natasha slowly bent down to check his pulse, which was fine and picked up her dress, which she dropped, and put it on.

She glared at him on the floor as she put up her hair and shut her locker as she left the room. She flattened her dress down and walked out into the field, joining the other cheerleaders in their final stretches.

She eyed around for the Westwood team cautiously as the fanfare started for the introductions.

**...SceneChange...**

Tony and Stephen were standing opposite each other. Tony was uncomfortably fiddling with his jacket as he stood in front of the tall Stephen.

Clint was in between them, with a pile of cards Bruce made. "What does ATP stand for?"

Stephen pressed the desk bell Loki brought them. "Adenosine triphosphate, the molecule that is used for energy by all cells," he answered quickly. Tonys' hands were freezing as he held his desk bell, rolling his eyes.

Clint flipped over the card. "Correct!" Bucky put a line in Stephens side of the graph they wrote on the concrete in rainbow chalk. Clint began to read another card. "Which is the hottest planet in the solar system and how hot is it?"

Stephen dinged the bell faster than Tony. "Venus,"

"And...how hot is it?" Clint repeated.

"Um..." Stephen glanced at Tony. He grinned and pressed his desk bell.

"Venus, the surface temperature is 460°C," Tony made a proud face as Bucky made a line in his section when Clint announced it was correct.

He then turned another card, checking the entrance of the closed bleacher for the planned arrival of Hydra. "What is the Law of Conservation of Energy?"

Tony had his hand ready and dinged his bell first. "The energy of the Universe is constant, it can neither be created or destroyed but only transferred and transformed," Stephen let out an amused sighed.

"Correct! What temperature and pressure are needed to convert graphite into a diamond?"

Tony and Stephen dinged their bell at the same time. Stephen glanced at Tony, then Clint and spoke first. "3000 Degrees Celsius and 100,000 atmospheres,"

Tony stepped forward a bit. "Which is 10132500 kPA," he added quickly.

Clint stared at both of them. "Um, 0.5 points to each of them," he told Bucky. He looked back at the cards, still glancing around for Hydra. "How much bigger is the sun than the earth?"

The two rings the bells made as they were pressed simultaneously echoed in the enclosed area behind the seats of the game. "The Earth is about 13 thousand kilometers wide," Tony answer faster than Stephen but was interrupted by him.

"But the Sun is roughly 1.4 million kilometers wide," Stephen said.

Tony stepped forward again to regain dominance. "You could fit about one million Earth's inside of it," Stephen grinned, entertained at Tony's feistiness. Tony glanced up at Stephen, looking kind of annoyed.

Stephen's mouth opened slightly, as he stared back, raising his eyebrow. Tony's face was pale, with faint red spots blushing from the cold.

Tony felt the heat growing on his face as he realized Stephen was wearing his scarf in the most alluring way possible. It had been fluffed up, most of his chin hidden under it as he was seemingly snuggled against it.

Stephen swore the light tinges of pink on Tony's face went darker but Clint interrupted them.

"As I said," he began loudly, "What star other than the sun, is closest to the earth?"

"Uh, Proxima Centauri, the nearest member of the Alpha Centauri triple star system," Tony stuttered, turning his attention back to the trivia.

"Well done, now, if anyone has any objections, Tony wins this round," Clint said loudly and annoyed.

"What? We only did five questions," Stephen frowned, ignoring Tony's smudge face that was slightly amiable.

"Sorry, but Tony clearly wins," Clint shrugged.

"You just said if there were any objections, I object!" Stephen exclaimed.

"Well, you were too busy being distracted to answer the last question, which would've let you have a fighting chance," Clint made an annoying face.

Stephen frowned at Tony, who was dinging the desk bell to the rhythm to 'We Are The Champions' by Queen. "Fine, but let it be known you let a weasel win,"

"At least it wasn't a rat," Tony fumed, now just continually pressing the bell repeatedly.

"Stop it," Stephen sighed, taking the bell off him. Tony sighed. Stephen glanced down at his feet. "Why are you wearing your prototype boosters?"

Tony glanced down too, activating them. He hovered up so he was just above eye level to Stephen. "To show how smart I am," He leaned forward, teasingly.

Stephen could feel his cheeks warm up as his desire to lean forward as well, to be close enough to touch foreheads, increased. He suddenly felt awkward thinking his own thoughts as he attempted to hide his scarlet cheeks behind his heated fingers and stepped back.

Tony frowned as he stumbled backward and adjusted himself to hover straight again. "You alright?"

"Yes," Stephen answered quickly.

"No, he won't be fine,"

Clint turned around and finally saw a face he wanted to punch. Malekith stood in the entrance with some of his friends.

Malekith crossed his arms. "I thought you guys had a rivalry, not a romance," he chuckled, showing off his brass knuckles.

Tony frowned, turning off his boosters and landing hastily on the ground. "We do have a rivalry, I won the competition and he just got a little agitated that he didn't," His gauntlet formed behind his back.

"I guess we'll see," Malekith shrugged.

Clint glanced behind him to check Loki. He had put a camera onto one of the stands that were illusioned to be invisible. He turned back to Malekith. "I'm sure you're wondering why we've gathered you here today,"

Malekith frowned, confused. Clint stepped down from the small pedestal he made. "I'm talking about this little audience you've gained. You really have the guts to show up here, after what you did to all of us,"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Malekith hissed.

"Well with that memory, you'll never get good grades," Tony stepped forward.

"As if I care about the academics. I'm only here for the Specialized courses. And what are you doing Stark? Engaging in battle? I'm pretty sure that's against the rules," Malekith raised his eyebrows.

"Who put a knife to our friends? You guys did," Clint said angrily.

"And your friend was the one who attacked me yesterday," Malektih pretended to look hurt.

Loki stepped forward but Wanda held him back. "We need them to attack first," she whispered.

Malekith sighed and ran his fingers through the spikes on his knuckles. "Well, it was such a shame. I've got a friend for you to meet," he stepped aside to show his friend.

He was tall and looked pretty strong. He had dark brown hair with purple tips.

"Who's this? Barney the Purple Dinosaur?" Tony smirked.

"You mock me but soon you will fear me," he said.

Tony raised his eyebrow. "Right, so, new guy. We have an initiation process if you want to join our little meetings, and you're not even in our school. Westwood?" he noticed the jacket.

Loki watched them bicker. He recognized him from somewhere...he was one of the guys who he avoided and pestered him on the way to school. As soon as he recognized him, he felt as if he had all eyes on him.

The guy walked up to Loki and glared down at him. "Look, it's ladyboy," Loki didn't answer.

"Who even are you," Stephen finally said, getting tired of this.

"I am Than, son of A'lar," he announced.

"Well, I am Tony Stark and the Avengers do not tolerate bullies," Tony huffed, stepping forward, still short compared to Than.

Than glanced down at him in amusement. "Very well, what would you do? You can't stop me, you'll get in trouble if you fight,"

"I'm not afraid to get in trouble if it means I serve justice," Tony answered.

Stephen stepped forward and held his arm. "Don't attack him, Tony," he whispered, leaning in.

Than smirked and turned back to Loki. "You cursed me once, how would you feel if I told on you,"

Loki blinked. "I cursed you because you attacked me. I will freely do it again if you'd let me,"

"You should thank me that I didn't tell your principal about it," Than sneered. "So, in return, you'll give me some form of satisfaction," He stepped forward and suddenly gripped Loki by the neck. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Loki lifted his arms and tried to pull off his grip as he coughed. "Let...go,"

Wanda gaped. She couldn't engage, she was not trained fully in combat and she wasn't allowed to use her enhancement. "Let go, you're going to hurt him!"

Than grinned and ignored her. "Your big brother isn't here to protect you, girl," Loki was going red.

Clint's eyes widened. He glanced back at the hidden camera. "What do we do?" he whispered to Bucky. He just shook his head in response. Clint stared, worried.

Tony squeezed through Stephen's comfortable grip. "Alright, stop it, he can't breathe,"

Than turned his head at him menacingly. "Those must pay for the harm they caused,"

"But he didn't cause any harm! It's you who..." Tony's voice was drowned out by an explosion of cheers from the field and the band was playing the Shield school song. They stayed silent until the cheers faded, but before Tony could continue, someone else interrupted.

"Than, we need you on the field, Jackson got unconscious," panted one of the other player who ran in.

"But if he was knocked out, that's a penalty," Than frowned.

"He wasn't on the field, he was found in conscious, someone knocked him out," he explained. "We're losing, we need you, hurry,"

Than turned back to them. "If I find it was you guys, you're all in trouble," he dropped Loki, who collapsed onto his knees gasping and coughing. Than walked off, Malekith and his friends followed.

As soon as they were gone, Tony hurried to Loki, where Wanda was helping him up.

"Are you okay?" Tony asked. Loki was leaning on Wanda as he nodded.

"I got the footage," Clint exclaimed, climbing down from the stands.

"We'll send it in on Monday," Bucky sighed.

"It wasn't really Hydra though, we won't be able to get them in trouble," Stephen pointed out.

"Well, we might get Westwood in trouble," Clint shrugged. "It's something,"

"Unless it was one of our guys who knocked out Jackson, whoever he is. Because then we'll get in trouble for cheating or whatever," Loki coughed.

Stephen glanced at Clint, who put the camera into his bag. "We'll hold onto it now and find out who did knock him out, then we'll see,"

**...SceneChange...**

**Natasha's POV:**

I smiled as my chest rose heavily as I was out of breath. We won the game, a close call for the other team though. My muscles didn't feel any cold wind even though I had bare arms and I was covered in sweat.

I gripped my pom poms and began heading to the change rooms, passing Steve and Thor who I high-fived on the way. I let loose my hair as I strolled into the changing rooms. (A/N for a basic layout for the changing rooms is, there's a small room you enter and inside that room, there are two doors which go into the female and male changing rooms.)

I entered the main area that interconnected the two changing rooms when someone pushing me from behind. I turned around and stepped back in alarm.

"What on earth!" I exclaimed.

There was one of the football players who had shoved me since he was closest. The guy I knocked out before the game was standing behind me with a bruise on his cheeks.

"You knocked out Jackson, you cost us the game!" the one who shoved me yelled, and then tried to punch me. I easily dodged out of the way. These guys were not well trained in fighting but they were strong and could tackle because of football so they would be a problem if they decided to attack me.

"Well he tried to-" I hesitated, unsure what to accuse him of. "He was in the girls changing room for a weird reason and he tried to touch me,"

"Says who?" Jackson huffed. I sighed. They would never believe me. I decided to ignore them and walk into the changing rooms but one of the guys blocked the way. I attempted to forcefully get him out of the way but someone from behind pulled my hair back.

I spun around and automatically punched them. He stepped back in pain and clutched their now bleeding nose. "What the hell!" They exclaimed.

"Get her, she needs to pay for causing us to lose," cried one of the guys as 3 of them cornered me. I stepped back in unsureness.

I tried to take down one of them, which I successfully did for a while, but there were five of them and one of me. It wasn't soon before one of them got a hold on my arms and pinned me down.

"Let go!" I hissed.

"Not until I win," Jackson bent down to be eye-level to me. I spat at him. I nervously glanced around. They couldn't do anything to me here, it was too easy for someone to walk in. They would have to move me out somewhere and I could get away, hopefully.

Jackson moved my hair off my face and placed his hand on my shoulder. I struggled against the other players gripped but they were too strong.

"Aghh, stop," I exclaimed, as Jackson placed his gross lips on my forehead and cheek. I closed my eyes as he was supposed to get to my lips, but instead, I heard a thump and a yell.

I snapped my eye open in confusion. As soon as I felt the grip on my arms loosen, I spun around and fell on the ground onto my back, kicked the guy in the stomach, making them double over.

I flipped back up and stood in a fighting stance but the guys we on the ground, groaning or knocked out. I stared at the person- girl, who was standing in front of me.

"Thank you," I managed to say breathlessly.

"I've seen you in the Battle of the Skilled a few times," she said.

I inspected her. She had dark tanned skin with white tattoos on her neck and bottom of her cheeks. I nodded. "I think I've seen you too. Natasha Romanov," I held out my hand for her to shake.

"Valkyrie Brunnhilde," she shook mine. (A/N She is better known as Valkyrie and she doesn't have a last name so...:/) "But you can call me Val,"

I nodded. "Val. Nice to meet you," I noticed her Westwood cheerleader dress. "Nice to meet someone from Westwood who is willing to be civilized with one of us," I gestured to my silver and black dress with the SHIELD logo on it.

Val grinned. "Civilized as it gets," she waved her hand to the guys that head began to head out silently. She began to head into the changerooms. "I think we have a lot in common Natasha,"

"Nat, if you want," I smiled, following her in.

**...SceneChange...**

I left the changing room after Val. She was nice, considering she was from Westwood. She was a fighter, did multiple martial arts and went to the gym so she was strong. Thor would like her.

I slung my bag around my shoulder as I went to the front gate where everyone was waiting for me to go celebrate our win.

"Why'd you take so long?" Steve laughed, turning to face me after talking to the others.

I paused. I suddenly felt as if it was the wrong time to mention what had happened. I didn't want to wreak the happiness right now. "Oh, it was busy in the changing rooms," I lied. I would tell them later when we were talking about something else.

Everyone began making their way to a pizza restaurant down the road. I followed from behind where Clint joined me.

"You good? You look a bit pale," he asked, handing me an ice-pop.

"Yeah I'm fine," I sighed. As we walked, I glanced at him. Clint was my best friend since primary school. He would never do what Jackson tried to. None of my friends would do that. Why was I so self-conscious? I thought guiltily.

**Sorry for the 4-day break...**

**I was busy with school and distractions ^~^**

**The next chapter is going to be hard to write U-U**

**Thank you for your support!**

**Review or Follow **

**-DJ 3**


	16. FOURTEEN: Losing

**I'm sad**

Tony slumped down the stairs to breakfast on the sunny Saturday morning. He had put on a shirt and some loose jeans in the tiring early hours of the day. He had to go with his father to an event in a half an hour, so he didn't bother with his clothing because he would have to get changed into a suit later.

Once he got downstairs, his father was on the main dining table and his mother was putting away some of the dishes. When he appeared at the opening, his father looked up from his newspaper.

"Anthony, you finally made it to breakfast. We're leaving soon," he said.

"I know, I have half an hour to get ready," Tony answered, sitting down.

"We were up 2 hours ago,"

Tony ate the beans on toast his mother served him, as she sat down with them. "Well, I had a late night. Plus, I don't take long to get ready,"

Howard took a deep breath. "You didn't need to go to that game, you were the one who insisted on going. I gave you a curfew and you were late,"

"Only by ten minutes. The bus was late,"

"Your mother said to let it go, and I am, so I don't want to hear your excuses," Howard flicked his newspaper back up.

Tony pursed his lips and glanced down to eat his food in silence. The sound of cutlery was the only sound in the Stark household. He soon finished his food and began to stand up.

"One second Anthony, have you finished your Science project?" Howard quickly asked.

"It's due on Tuesday-"

"Have you finished it?" Howard interrupted.

"Well, I finished my part, I have to ask Stephen if he wants any help," Tony began, gripping the edge of his plate.

"That Stephen is a poor excuse of an intellect. He's bringing you down," Howard said firmly.

Tony swallowed his anger and gritted his teeth. "Stephen is not a poor excuse, he is wonderfully intelligent,"

"Whatever you say. I let you chose and go to any school you wanted to, even though you could be graduating University right now. You chose Shield and you must not be taken down by the students there that care more about their physic rather than brains," He glared at him with hatred in his cruel dull eyes.

A blockage of words formed in Tony's throat, threatening to spill out. "You- you founded the school!"

"And I thought you'd apply for Intelligence Agent, not Specialized," Howard exclaimed, his voice rising.

"Howard," Maria whispered, but she was cut off by Howard slamming his mug on the table.

"If you do not get a one-hundred percent, I will take you out of this school,"

Tony steadied his breath, but it was difficult don't to shake. When the love between his parents died, they didn't divorce. It would be bad for the Stark company. But Tony now did not cherish his company or speak his name with softness. His other life at school, with his beloved friends, only left room for either avoiding or living up to his father's expectations.

But with his only part of the life that he lived for, his school and friends, the place where he could be normal, taken away, would leave him going to a university filled with people at least 5 years older than him. Other than that, his now easy expectations from his father would grow to impossible.

Tony took a deep breath. "Okay," his voice wobbled. "That's not too hard," he voice cracked. He winced.

"Don't expect me to be merciless," Howard walked over to him and glared down at his son. "And crying is for the weak, I do not want to see a tear,"

It was a miracle a tear didn't fall there and then, but Tony managed to blink them all out in a few seconds. Howard gave a deep, non-sympathizing sigh and began to walk back to his seat.

"Stupid..." Tony mumbled, subconsciously wiping his face, even though it was dry, for once.

Howard instantly turned back around. "What did you say?"

"Nothing," Tony froze. "I didn't say anything-"

"That wasn't nothing!" Howard's weak rage broke and since he wasn't too far to inflict any close damage, he grabbed a vase that lay near him on a small table and threw it towards Tony.

Tony blocked his face, but the thin glass that made the vase shattered and Maria screamed. When Tony lowered his hands, some of the small glass pieces sunk into his skin on his face and arms. He braced himself because he knew his father wasn't done.

His hand hit and Tony stood there, not able to do anything. The first slap, eleven years ago, had been the worst. He hadn't expected him to be so strong but it was enough to bruise, and some times even cut. His cheek was growing purple and small slit opened.

Howard then decided to punch him in the gut. A sudden gush of pain jolted throughout Tony's body. His stomach ached, his arms lost tension and his legs began to weaken. Another tough hit went to the side of his jaw. Tony dropped to the ground. His tongue was soaked in the taste of blood.

"Stop, Howard, isn't he going to the event with you?" Maria exclaimed, pulling in her husband's arm. Tony knew the moment Howard turned back around, he wasn't going to go, not with these injuries on him.

Howard glared at her then at him. "You shall go instead," he said to Maria. He then left the room and the silence fell in the room.

Maria bent down to help Tony up. "I'm so sorry dear. Go get cleaned, rest today, we will probably be out all day," She picked up a napkin and wiped a bit of blood of his face.

He took it. "Thank you," he muttered. He leaned into his mother and hugged her. She hugged him back.

"I have to go get ready, but rest. Call one of your friends," Maria said in his ear.

"Mhmm,"

"Love you,"

"I love you too," Tony said at last, as she walked up to another staircase to her bedroom. Tony stumbled back up the stairs to his bedroom to clean up.

He entered his bathroom and stared into the mirror. He had a cut on his cheek, a black eye was forming and his jaw was bruising. His tongue was still tasting blood. There were multiple small cuts on his forehead and cheek from the glass. He inspected his arms. There were more, bigger cuts.

He leaned on the sink and groaned, which just turned into sobbing.

It was a good 3 hours until he had managed to clean himself up and decided to go back to his room to finish his Science Project. The robot he was creating was almost done, but almost done was not enough for his father.

As he tinkered, putting on the finishing touches, his phone kept beeping. Some were pictures of Bruce at the Science Fair, some texts from Natasha about a waitress she thought he might like, even something from Loki.

Each time, Tony glanced at the notifications on his lock screen but never opened them. He was too busy and tired to communicate with anyone. He stared at a photo of the group before Bucky arrived at Shield, which he kept framed on his table of mechanics.

He bit his lips as he paused his work. Everyone was there except Bucky, Wanda, and Stephen. He sighed. He didn't have any pictures of Stephen. Or Wanda, he added. His buzzed again. He glanced down at his phone.

_ sent a message at 11:43 am_  
_Everything %100?_

Tony sighed. Even Steve had sent his weekly check up on Tony, the only other person to know apart from Stephen now, about Howard. Even though they had their fallout, he still cared enough to make sure he was okay.

Tony blinked frustratedly. 'Why wasn't Stephen texting me?"'

'That's stupid, why do we care?'

'He probably isn't because he doesn't need to,'

'And because I told him not to interfere with me anymore,'

'Stupid,'

'No it's not'

'Argh,'

Tony dropped his tools angrily. He didn't care about Stephen. His phone began to ring.

'What now?!" Tony thought, annoyed. He flipped the pillow it was on, so his phone fell face up onto the ground. The ringer was unknown. 'Great.'

He picked up. "Yes, Tony Stark speaking?" he answered in his best fake voice.

"Tony Stark, son of Howard Stark?" responded the voice.

"Yes?" Tony sighed. Probably one of his fathers business interests.

"We are sorry to inform that a car of your father's possession has been in a severe accident and both passengers are in hospital now. One in critical condition," said the voice on the other side.

"What?" Tony didn't process what he was hearing.

"Your father's car crashed into another on a highway-"

"Who's in critical condition," Tony interrupted, already grabbing his bag and rushed out to his bicycle.

"Maria Stark,"

Tony didn't bother, he hung up and began riding to the hospital.

**...SceneChange...**

"Are you sure?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine," Steve assured.

"Okay, I just thought, you know, maybe you wanted it to be like a date..." Bucky muttered uncomfortably.

Steve chuckled. "It's not a date, we're just friends, jeez it's like you want us to be together,"

Bucky forced a grin. "Well, it does seem like you like her,"

"I guess I wouldn't know huh,"

"You didn't even notice Sharon liked you," Bucky laughed as they approached the cafe they organized to meet Peggy with for a homework session. When they entered, they found her in a cubicle.

"Steve! Bucky, you made it," Peggy welcomed them to sit down.

Steve put up his bag to take out his exercise book. "Sorry we're a bit late, there was a crash on the way here,"

"I hope they're alright," Peggy exclaimed. "You're here now, all safe and sound. Let's begin,"

She set out her notes and inspected Steve's work. It wasn't too long before Bucky realized he was just going to sit in the background doing nothing.

"I'm going to head to the bathroom, be right back," Bucky finally said, tired to their giggles and messing around. He left and took out his phone. He also soon grew tired of scrolling through his phone.

He groaned and peered out to see what they were doing. Steve was showing something to Peggy on his phone. Bucky fiddled with his phone and decided to leave. He walked over to the table and picked up his bag.

"Sorry, I've got to go, mom needs help with the twins," he lied.

"Oh, really? That sucks. Well see you on Monday them," Peggy frowned.

"Be safe," Steve called as he left.

Bucky rushed out of the cafe and stared at the pavement as he walked home. It was no use to stay there. It was like he was a ghost.

**that's because you are one. no one cares.**

Bucky blinked at his thought. 'No,'

**yes.**

'It's not like that, Steve is allowed to be friends with her,'

**but you've been friends with him longer, why doesn't he care more about you?**

'Because...he's allowed. He's spent so much already on me,'

**exactly, he lost his best friend for you, he broke the friendship group because of you. why is he getting rid of you now? what makes peggy more important?**

'It's not like that!' Bucky thought frustrated at himself. He clenched his fingers into a fist. He tried to remember his D.I.D. techniques, but he kept getting distracted.

**it's disrespectful. we are more important.**

'No we're not,'

**he likes peggy. there's nothing you can do. he'll never like you like that. you're just a closeted third wheel.**

'I know.'

**then like someone else. someone who he's close with.**

'But that's not right,'

**and? you deserve some love.**

'Who then?"

**how about natasha?**

'But she said she wasn't going to date anyone anymore,'

**but love is vulnerable like that. if you make her like you enough, she won't be able to deny the feelings. like your feelings towards steve.**

Bucky paused. Was he really going to listen to the Winter Soldier? He took a deep breath. Harmless flirting wouldn't hurt. He'd just be friends with Natasha. Like Peggy and Steve were friends.

**just friends.**

**...SceneChange...**

"Tony Stark," Tony panted, at the front desk.

"The second floor, rooms 134,"

"Thank you," Tony managed to say as skipped the elevator and ran up the stairs. He soon found himself at the front of the door. He tried to peer into the room, but the fogged glass denied him that.

"Tony Stark?"

Tony turned around. "Yes?" A young nurse stood there. Tony turned to the door and then back to her. "Is- is my mother okay? Will she...be able to walk- or-or," Tony stared helplessly at her.

"No," the nurse finally said.

"What do you mean? Is she in a coma? If she is, I've been working on a-" He paused as she stayed silent.

"Tony," she began, "She died 3 minutes after we brought her here,"

Tony began breathing faster. He turned around and frantically glanced at everything. "What-" he ran his fingers through his hair and everything around him began to collapse.

"Your father is in the room, would you like to speak to him?"

Tony shook his head and found himself running out of the hospital. He dropped down onto the bench outside, where he had parked his bike. His hands shook as he called Bruce.

No answer. He checked the messages he had last sent him.

Banner101: -going to a panel, my phone will be off-

Tony clenched his teeth and took a deep breath. The initial shook left and now he began crying. Tears just kept falling as realization fell on him. He subconsciously grabbed his bike and began cycling to goodness knows where.

Muscle memory was what made him go there. To Steve's house. The memory of him escaping from his house after a fight to go to Steve's house flooded into Tony's senses, and he rode down the familiar road. His muscles stopped once he got there, crashing into the fence knocking down a bin.

He skidded off his bike and stood up, gasping. He looked around frantically, figuring out where he was. "Wha-"

"Tony?"

Tony turned around to face the house he had crashed into. Steve was in the front garden, frowning at him. "Steve!" he exclaimed in surprise, the adrenaline still flowing in his system.

"What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Steve walked out and help Tony pick up his bike. Tony didn't help, he just stood on the pavement, his hands on his head with his breaths getting heavier. Steve looked at him worriedly as he propped up the bike on the fence. "Tony?"

"Yeah...yeah?" Tony muttered, unfocused.

"What's wrong? Why'd you come?" Steve asked, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Um..." Tony covered his eyes and massages his cheeks. "I don't know," he began to speak faster, "I was at the -the hospital and Bruce wasn't answering and I panicked-"

"Hospital? Wait, what happened?" Steve frowned, turning Tony to him, who was a having a familiar hyperventilating session.

"Car, something..., I can't think right now," Tony began gasping.

Steve didn't protest. "Come inside, my mom's out grocery shopping," he led Tony inside as he was blubbering nonsense.

Steve left Tony on the couch and quickly made a banana milkshake. Tony was on the couch, now beginning to calm down, his breaths a bit slower, but now he was dealing with the fact he was back in Steve's house.

Steve's house.

Tony looked around the plain living room and gave a deep sigh, burying his head in his hands.

"Here," He glanced up and Steve passed him the milkshake. Tony accepted it and Steve sat down on the couch opposite him. "So...want to talk about it?"

Tony smiled and chuckled in hysteria. "Just like old times, isn't it?" He sipped on the straw.

Steve slowly nodded. "Right...so how're things at home?" he asked, trying to make up a conversation. Tony muttered something inconceivable and didn't answer. Steve pursed his lips. "Right, okay," he sighed. "Tony, what happened? You've been ignoring me for the past weeks and now you turn up in the middle of an anxiety attack?"

Tony leaned back on the couch. "Nah," and closed his eyes. Steve waited for a moment but gave up when he heard a soft snore. He fell asleep.

"Really?" Steve smiled, amused, placing the mug on the table and picked him up. He carried Tony to his room and laid him down on his bed as he turned to set up the spare mattress.

Steve dropped the mattress on the ground and patted down a spare sheet onto it. He picked Tony back up and placed him on the floor, chucking his own blanket from his bed onto Tony.

Steve ran his hand through his hair and sighed before picking up his phone to call the Stark Residence. He stared at Tony's tear-stained face as he slept. The phone rang out and the voice-mail echoed. Steve frowned and answered the voicemail.

"Hello, this is Steve Rogers, Tony's at my place, so don't worry about him," he hung up and chucked his phone on his empty bed and left to finish his chores.

The rush of water was the only sound that ran through the old house as Steve washed the dishes.

**...SceneChange...**

**Tony's POV:**

I opened my eyes to a wooden roof, not my normal white one. It wasn't unfamiliar though, I've been here before. I frowned in confusion as I tried to sit up, but instantly groaned. My muscles hurt all over.

I rubbed my side, which I inspected it to be bruised. When did this happen?

I racked my hurting brain to remember. In the morning I came down for breakfast, I automatically touched my split eye-brow as I remembered my father hitting me. That must've been when I bruised myself.

I pulled off the covers and glanced down as my body. It looked fine except it felt sore. I frowned and lifted my shirt to reveal my bandaged torso. What happened?

I stared bewildered around the room as my memory served blank. What happened?

I remembered getting angry after breakfast. I was working on my project. Then I got a call. I stared wide-eyed. Was it a dream? Where was I? This place seemed familiar.

My hands would be shaking right now if it wasn't aching. I flinched as the door creaked open.

My cheeks flushed in confusion as I saw Steve shirtless entered the room, rubbing his hair with a towel. "Uh," I spluttered.

"Oh Tony, you're awake," Steve smiled, walking casually over to his bed which was next to me. I realized I was on the floor mattress. What happened.

What happened. I wanted to say. "What?" I said instead.

Steve slipped a shirt on. Good. "What about what?" he asked, sitting on the bed.

I shifted and looked around the room. "What am I doing here?" What did I do? I thought furiously, utterly confused.

Steve raised his eyebrow. "You don't remember? I didn't think you were drunk, you said you quit that business,"

I shook my head. "I did," I rubbed my sore torso and noticed the small bright red scars on my arm made from dad yesterday morning. "I said I quit so I did. I didn't drink last night,"

"Then...you don't remember?"

I frowned and felt my eyes sting. "No. Yes. I mean, I don't know. I don't want to remember," I muttered, struggling to say any words.

I saw Steve stare at my recent scars and some bruises on my legs. "Did ...Howard do this?" he asked.

I looked down. "Yeah," I mumbled. I remembered the hospital. "What time is it?" I asked.

"8 am Sunday. You slept over," Steve smiled.

I glanced at him in confusion. "What...did I do here?" I asked cautiously.

"Nothing. You...crashed into the bins, and then I led you inside and you were... crying," Steve slowly explained. "You wouldn't say why you came, and then you passed out and slept through the night,"

I nodded in relief. Sort of. "Right..."

"So... care to tell me what happened?" Steve asked. I left the silence to linger for a bit as I averted my eyes. I didn't answer. I heard Steve sigh. "Tony, if Howard did this, you need to say something, to the police, or one of the teachers, Fury would be able to do something-"

I interrupted him. "No, I can't. Not right now,"

"You say that all the time. That it was a one-time thing, that it was you who riled him up, when is that time now? You can't keep getting hurt!" Steve exclaimed, concerned for me. Again. Even though we fell out, he still cared.

I shook my head. "Not now. When the whole thing...blows over, I'll...I might do it. Not now Steve," I try to convince him to let it down.

Steve crossed his arms. "Tony, if you don't do anything, I will. This has been going on since you were 7, it's not fair,"

I pursed my lips and tried to not have to say it.

"Tony," Steve persisted. "I don't want to do it, but I will," I didn't say anything. "Come on, this shouldn't be allowed, you shouldn't have to have all these scars. We have to tell someone,"

"I can't Steve. Later, I will, I promise," I tried to not think about it.

"Tony-"

"No Steve I can't! My mother just f**king died and my father is in the hospital!" I burst, covering my face with my hands. There was silence.

"...What?"

"Yesterday, I got a call," I tried to say though my hands. "It was a car crash. I should've been in the car, not her. By my father... I looked too beat up so I couldn't go to the event," I moved my hands from my face and wiped my cheek. "She went instead," I finally said, tears strolling as I finally let my thoughts run free in my head.

I glanced at Steve. He was gaping at me. "Tony...I...I'm sorry, I didn't think..."

"It's fine," I slowly stand up, ignoring the soreness of my muscles. "I should probably get home, I should be there if my father comes back," I rub my eyes.

Steve stands up with me. "Your bike got a bit battered up when you crashed into my fence. The wheel won't roll. I can help you walk it home if you want,"

I turned to him. "No, it's fine,"

"Are you sure?" Steve followed me to the front door. "I'm mean, you look like you're in pain,"

I opened the front door. "It's fine Steve, really. Anyways, I need time to...think," I turned to him. "Thank you. For...letting me in yesterday. I didn't know where to go,"

Steve nodded. "It's fine, I'm always here,"

"Oh, and please don't tell anyone? I'm not really ready for it," I ask quietly.

"Sure, that's do-able," Steve said, waving as I walked down the path, picking up my bike to walk home.

I don't look back as I grip the handlebars. I ignored what happened yesterday and thought about the finishing touches to my science project instead.

**...SceneChange...**

I dropped off my bike in the garage and entered through the back door. I decided to have a shower before fixing it up. I quietly closed the door and walked casually, quietly, into the kitchen.

I begin to walk up the stairs when I trip over a bag behind the front door as if someone chucked it there whilst entering. I stopped my fall by propping myself up on the wall, but something in the bag fell out, making a bump noise.

"Is that you Anthony?" I heard my father call from the living room.

I freeze. "Yes?" I answer after some hesitation.

"Come here,"

I slowly walk over to where the voice came from and confronted my father. He looked at me. He had a cast on his leg and had a crutch balancing on the couch next to him. He had some bruises and cuts, but none worse than mine.

"Anthony," I stopped staring and looked up at him. He began talking to me. "I know this is hard for you to hear,"

"Mother is dead? Yeah, I heard," I said, surprised myself at my tone. I guess I was mad at him for all this.

He stared at me surprised. "Well, it seems you are handling it well,"

I frowned in annoyance. I wasn't handling it well. I got agitated. "I'm not,"

He didn't even seem to hear me. "I have a lot of paperwork to do, and with all of this, even more. Do try to keep quiet, I can always hear your machine making so much noise,"

I tried to keep myself under control but I was getting very annoyed. He didn't care about Mom. He didn't care that she died. He didn't care about me. I didn't care if he cries tonight, or that he's hiding his emotions because he shouldn't be.

"Don't you care?" I snapped, clenching my fist. "That she's dead? That she died?!"

"Of course I do-"

"Well you don't seem like you do, you're not reacting to her death properly," I was glad he was stuck on the couch with a cast. He couldn't get up and hit me. Even though, I stepped back and blinked the tears out of my eyes.

"Anthony..."

I felt the anger I kept inside threaten to spill. The emotions I had since the first bruise I received was on the edge. "No, I will not listen to you! That's all I do, listen to make you proud. I will not be affected by your emotionless person! I despise you!" I explained, almost yelling.

Whatever he said after, I didn't comprehend, as I began storming off towards my room. I heard his muffled yells from the living room, but I didn't bother to try and listen to him. If he wanted to say something to me, he should've tried doing it years ago.

I slammed the door and collapsed in a mess on the floor, leaning against the door.

**I tried. **

**3**


	17. FIFTEEN: Confessions

**Clint's POV:**

I paced alongside Natasha as we walked to school. As we were talking about the new video game one of my siblings bought recently, we heard a familiar voice come up behind us.

"Hey!" We turned around to face Bucky jogging up to us.

"Hey, Barnes," I smiled, making space for him on the sidewalk. We were approaching the school.

"How's it going?" Natasha greeted, opening a bagel she bought earlier for breakfast.

"Alright, I guess," Bucky shrugged, glancing at her. I turned forward.

"How is Steve? Is Peggy stealing him too much?" Natasha joked with her mouth full.

"Ha, no not too much," Bucky smiled.

"Are they dating yet?" I skipped on the edge of the path.

"Nope, Steve hasn't got the guts to ask her out, even though they probably like each other," Bucky made a face. "It does get annoying though, sometimes, when I'm third-wheeling,"

"It can be like that," Natasha sympathized, even though it was normally me who third-wheeled her relationships. "Anyway, how is Enhanced Combats? You'd think you and Steve are in Specialized instead,"

"Yeah, technically it counts as Enhanced, mostly because of our DNA enhancements," Bucky replied. "It'd be cool though to be in class with you and Clint, most of our group is in Enhanced anyway,"

"I'd love to punch you, Barnes," Natasha joked.

"I'd be honored," he grinned. They continued to playfully bicker. I glanced silently at Natasha, who was laughing and making amusing comments.

I recognized that laugh and smile. The attitude. It was like this with Ben, one of Nat's other ex's. I frowned. Nat kept to her word, she won't date anyone else, not after her past experiences.

I didn't realize that Nat had waved goodbye to him as we entered the school. "Where'd Bucky go?" I asked, subconsciously distracted.

"He went to go find Steve," Natasha smiled. And she kept smiling.

I pursed my lips. "Cool,"

"Yes, did you know he has an accent? I never realized it, maybe because I was so busy with someone else, or because he never talked that much," She began talking, "It's sort of Russian but like English too,"

I nodded, following her. She continued to talk about Bucky. I frowned. What was happening? Was she flirting back there? I didn't know, I was too distracted thinking about it to inspect the details. Her voice echoed blandly as she spoke, my thoughts becoming louder.

It made me feel sick to my stomach listening to her coo over him. And the worst part is that I had to smile and nod like it's not killing me inside as we casually walked down the same path as we did every day. I pretended to listen while I tried to interpret my feelings.

Do I admit to liking her? I've never liked anyone before like that. I'd always be busy with my friend's problems or the Avengers to care about someone like that. But Nat was my friend and an Avenger. That made her top-priority, but was it something else?

I couldn't answer that because I bumped into someone. "Shoot sorry," I glanced up to face Steve. "Oh hi Steve," I stepped back and turned to find Natasha. She seemingly had stopped walking to talk to Steve but I didn't.

She was sniggering. "Shut up," I said, amused at my own mistake. I turned back to Steve, and now I saw Peggy with him. "Hi, Peggy,"

I liked Peggy, she was nice, just and loyal, but also funny and carefree. She was a good friend, and it was nice to see Steve with someone who shared the same morality, unlike most of the other girls who fawned over him, who did nothing more than eye-ball him.

"Morning Clint, Nat," Peggy nodded. "It's a warm morning," she stated. I looked up to see the yellow sun peeking out of the grey clouds. It was a nice change from the brisk coldness of winter.

"Sure is," I replied, looking back down. "I can't wait till I can wear shorts again,"

"You'd be wearing short right now if I didn't force you to wear pants so your legs would stop turning purple," Nat rolled her eyes. I playfully punched her. "Oh and Steve, Bucky went to look for you earlier,"

"I told him I'd be here, he should be here soon," Steve frowned, glancing around.

"It should be fine, he might have something else to do," Peggy assured. "And I can't wait for out Combats test,"

"Test?" Steve questioned.

"For Specialized. Someone fancy is coming to inspect us, so Mr. Arnett made it into an examination," Natasha explained.

I mentally face-palmed myself. I forgot about that. I should be fine though, I aced at archery, which was my skill set. "How do you guys do Enhanced tests? See who can fly the highest?" I joked.

Steve smirked. "No, it's judged on our casual Combats skills since we can't rely completely on our Enhancement,"

"Even though you kinda have to," I added. Steve rolled his eyes.

He continued. "But also then we have a stimulation, so like we use our 'powers' in real life,"

"Ooh, nice," Nat commented.

"Stimulations?" I whined. "We don't get to use those until next term,"

"Ha," Steve poked.

"Well we get to use Stark tech," Peggy defended.

"Our school is 90% Stark tech," Nat crossed her arms. "But we do get to go on a sick excursion in a few days,"

"Oh yeah," I remembered, but I was cut off by Steve asking what excursion and Peggy answering. I shrugged it off as usual but then I noticed their facial expressions.

They were the same as Bucky's lovesick face. Ugh. Flirting. I excused myself, although no one really noticed, to the bathroom.

I strolled inside the Garden Bathrooms and turned to face the mirror, but I found Bucky standing there instead. "Oh hey, Steve's just around the corner if you want him-"

"I know," he mumbled.

I frowned. "Right," I walked up to the mirror and checked if my hair was fine. "He's out there with Peggy, I see what you mean by third-wheeling, it's almost as worse as third-wheeling Natasha," I glanced at him through the mirror. I blinked and paused. "Bucky?"

"I'm fine," he muttered, death glaring the sink.

I nodded, anxious in case The Winter Soldier came out. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," There was some silence before he spoke again. "I just...I found him but he seemed happy enough with Peggy,"

I swallowed. "You're jealous?"

Bucky banged the bench. "No! I'm not," he hissed.

I stepped back. "Yeah, right, sorry," I sighed and stared into the mirror. He was definitely jealous. Steve was his best friend and now he was being 'replaced' with Peggy. I knew it, even if he didn't admit it. I knew the symptoms first hand, from Natasha and her boyfriends.

Maybe I was overreacting her blindness to me when she was dating, that can happen when you like someone in that way. If I did like her in that way. I glanced at Bucky. Did he like Steve that way? Steve was a nice guy, and certainly knew Bucky's needs and problems. It would be very unlike him to completely ignore his best friend.

Unless Bucky liked him in that way. It would make sense since Steve liked Peggy in that way. There were a few non-straights in our group, so it wouldn't be bad if he came out. I'm pretty sure he isn't out. Maybe I forgot. I'll have to ask Nat. It's a bit hard to remember everyone's orientation.

Loki; Gender-fluid and bi.

Nat; was...bi as well, but more leaning on males.

Tony; was he bi? I can't remember. Maybe it was a rumor last year.

I tapped on the bench. "Hey...Buck, maybe, I can get Steve to pay more attention to you if you want,"

Bucky looked at me. "Why would you?"

"Because...well ever since the Avengers got canceled, well it's been boring, and it'd be nice to have a mission," I shrugged, fixing my hair.

Bucky thought for a moment. "What would you benefit from it?"

I opened my mouth. I would benefit because then you will stop liking Nat. But I didn't say that. "Because I'm bored and it'd be fun,"

Bucky pursed his lips. "I..." he shook his head. "No. It won't be fair on Peggy. She's too nice and I don't want her to be upset,"

"Yeah...you're right," I sighed silently. Maybe my plan won't work. Oh well.

He glanced at me. "Thank you anyways," and with that, he walked out of the bathroom, leaving the door swinging.

I turned back to the mirror and stared at my face. What would Nat see in me?

**...SceneChange...**

Tony waited in front of Fury's office, fiddling with his fingers. He had managed to avoid most of his friends throughout the day, except those in his classes, which was hard. He hadn't seen Stephen since Friday and managed to avoid Steve completely.

If Bruce knew about Saturday or even that he was avoiding everyone, he'd go crazy and force him to do something about it. But he didn't know, and Tony wasn't planning on telling him just yet. He wasn't planning anything right now, he was just getting ready to ask Fury if he didn't have to do detention today.

On cue, Stephen approached, but Tony turned his head immediately and entered the office. Stephen followed behind him.

"Mr. Stark, Mr. Strange," Fury nodded.

Before he could continue and assign their detentions, Tony spoke up, for the first time that day. "Excuse me, sir, sorry, I know you won't lift the punishment until we are on good terms, but I do really think we're getting along. Maybe," Tony didn't look at Stephen. "Anyway, I was hoping for today, maybe I- we could just work on our Science Project? It is due tomorrow and we're almost done,"

Stephen frowned and glanced at Fury. There was no way Fury would let them off on detention, even if they were doing it together. Fury stared at Tony, who was making a subtle pleading face. To Stephen's surprise, he agreed.

"Alright. Science Room S3 is free, you can use that," Fury said, crossing his hands.

Tony nodded. "Thank you,"

"Just this time," Fury said as they left.

Stephen turned to ask Tony how he convinced Fury to do that, but he was already heading down the corridor. Stephen pursed his lips and jogged down after him.

They had reached their lockers, where Tony took out a big box and Stephen took out his laptop. Tony would've sped walked, but he was carrying the heavy box, so Stephen caught up.

"Jeez, I didn't know you could walk so fast when you're so short," Stephen joked, panting.

Tony stopped outside the door. "Right. Can you open the door?" Tony was hugging the big box and stepped to the side.

Stephen grinned and swiped his ID on the small machine next to the door. The lady's voice buzzed through the speaker. "Welcome, Stephen Strange. You are authorized to use this room for lunchtime," He held the door open as Tony walked in.

Tony dropped the box on the table and began taking stuff out. "Thanks," he muttered, still avoiding Stephen's eyes.

"Cool," Stephen frowned, worried about Tony, who still seemed odd since Friday, but stayed behind the line as he asked. Stephen placed his laptop next to Tony's workstation. "I've finished the analysis and explanation. Technically I just have to make it all fancy and customize the fonts," he shrugged.

Tony glanced at his screen. "Alright, I'll read your thing, you can look at my thing," he took out the robot he'd finished on the weekend. It had a square stand and a box that contained most of the mechanics, with an arm that came up from the top with a claw at the end.

Tony managed not to look at Stephen's look of awe and walked around Stephen to look at his laptop in silence. Stephen stepped over to inspect the robot. Tony focussed on Stephen's work, instead of watching Stephen inspecting his invention.

Tony quickly glanced up as he heard a short squeal from him. The robot had pinched Stephen and tried to steal his scarf. Stephen swatted it away.

"Dum-E! Don't do that," Tony rolled his eyes, flipping some switches on it. "This is Stephen,"

"Dum-E?" Stephen frowned at Tony, amused.

Tony flicked his eyes away from him. "Shut up, I named him after you,"

He heard Stephen chuckle. "I'm honored? Anyway, what do you think of my presentation? It's obviously not as good as inventing a robot in less than a week but..."

Tony turned away from the laptop. "It's fine," he sighed. "We're almost done then," He didn't look at Stephen and took out a sticker to place on Dum-E.

Stephen shrugged and sat down to put on the finishing touches on the presentation. He paused for a bit and stared at Dum-E. The silent classroom echoed every movement of Dum-E as Tony finished his details. Stephen found himself staring at Dum-E to Tony.

Tony's jawline had always been fine, all his facial features an art-work. His posture was visually delightful, his shoulders calm even when he was stressed. Always had at least one heel off the ground, to make himself taller than he was.

But this time Stephen noticed the small scars on his bare arms, the bruises. The lady-attracting face had red, blue, purple spots decorated around it with dark red scabs. Even so, he still looked the same as always;

Proud. Confident. Alluring.

Stephen found his lips were slightly parted, running his tongue over the back of his teeth. His own private thoughts made him blush. A soft pink glow turned scarlet as Tony turned to him, opening his mouth to say something but froze when he saw him.

**...QuickSceneChange...**

Tony was frustratingly thinking about how stupid everything was as he fixed up Dum-E's stickers that read his name. His fingers fumbled with the sticker and he put it down in defeat.

His own thoughts wouldn't let him work. He needed to get it right, otherwise, his father would make him leave SHIELD. He turned a bit to stare out of the window, to the grey dull sky of the winter morning. He sighed slowly and let the faint sunshine warm up his cold face.

He ran his hands through his hair and turned to face Stephen. "I was thinking-" Tony froze, and frowned. He'd caught Stephen staring at him, and his face was flushing red.

Tony's eyes widened.

Ignore it.

Ignore it.

He shifted his feet and tried to remember what he was going to say.

Ignore him.

He opened his mouth again but he babbled some nonsense.

Stephen's pupils dilated and he slowly shrunk in the rim of his scarf. Was his blushing noticeable? Why was he blushing?!

Tony felt tingles at the end of his fingers as he steadied his breaths.

Ignore him.

The sharp cold air stood still in the silent classroom. Suddenly, only the small whirls of Dum-E was heard, as he nudged Tony forward. He annoyedly swatted him away.

"I can explain," Stephen finally said, completely flustered from the long awkward silence that had occurred.

"Ple-ase do-," Tony spluttered, stepped back.

There was a small pause as Stephen thought of what to say. "Um, I actually can't, I don't know myself," If he could get any redder, he did.

"Of course you don't know, or else you'd be the top student this year," Tony smirked, wondered at his ability speak normally.

"Hey, maybe you could explain why you were blush-blushing," Stephen hesitated. "Since you're so smart,"

Tony's brain malfunctioned right then. "Pfft, I'm-it's too complicated for you to understand,"

Stephen stepped forward, crossing his arms. "Right," He stared into his eyes.

Tony blinked, the only movement in his frozen body. "Erm, you're too close, to me," he stuttered.

Stephen's body loosened. "I'm literally 2 meters away from you," He gestured to the space between them.

"I know that," Tony said sarcastically. "I'm not dumb," he turned back to Dum-E.

Silence fell in the room again, with just whirls form Dumb-E's joints. Stephen swallowed and stared at Tony's back, desperately wanting to say something, something he didn't what, but nothing came out of his open mouth.

He pursed his lips and stepped back to sit down.

**...QuickSceneChange...**

Tony pretended to be busy. Stephen would never know he wasn't working, he didn't know mechanics. Tony stared blankly at the almost empty box and thought about what just happened.

He caught Stephen staring and blushing at him. Why?

He couldn't explain why.

And most importantly, he, Tony Stark, also didn't know why.

Tony continued to flusteredly and frustratedly stare at the empty space. Why wasn't Stephen asking him about his cuts or bruises? Did he really not care about him?

'It doesn't matter,' Tony thought to himself. 'I told him not to care, so he's going to not care,' he reminded himself.

He then slowly and cautiously turned around and peeked at Stephen. He was intently focused on his laptop screen, not even noticing Tony's glance. Tony sighed and began packing up silently. He left Dum-E on silent, deciding to leave him there for the night to present the next day.

He closed the lid of the box and turned to Stephen subconsciously. He paused and stared at him. He was typing down something, completely unaware of Tony. Tony swallowed, feeling slightly uncomfortable as he watched Strange work, with his scarf all puffed up and covering his cheeks.

Tony wanted to say something but his brain didn't let him. It wasn't until his breaths quickened and random words found themselves escaping his mouth. "Do you want to escape?" Tony stuttered, confused himself.

Stephen slowly turned to him and frowned. "Huh?"

"Leave this room. We're pretty much done with this project, and I heard that the others are at the Combats gym since it was open today," Tony continued, barely blinking.

Stephen nodded slowly. "Right...sure," he stood up and closed his laptop, putting it in his bag. "Let's go then..."

Tony awkwardly followed him, leaving the quiet empty room behind them.

**...SceneChange...**

"Boo!" Tony snuck behind the group, keeping up his happy facade even though he didn't want to.

"Tony! Stephen, where were you all day?" Nat exclaimed, looking at Tony.

Tony shrugged. "Busy," He glanced around. All of his friends were there. Thor, Wanda, Peggy, and Sharon were on a mat a few meters away, training. The others were on the bleachers, where he was. He spotted Steve at the end, farthest away. He darted his eyes away and smiled.

Clint grinned ecstatically. "Left detention?"

"Yeah, Tony convinced Fury to let us work on the science project instead," Stephen smirked.

"Two teacher's pets breaking school rules? Ooooh," Sam laughed.

"There's nothing to worry about, we won't get caught," Tony rolled his eyes.

"There's a lot to worry about actually," Loki's voice came from behind Tony. The group's attention turned to the light voice. She nodded to the entrance of the Combats gym. "SHIELD has so kindly allowed visitors to its facilities with the scum that Westwood is,"

The gym got a bit busier as new students entered. Steve scowled. "Ugh,"

They saw Malekith greet Than and his friends. As the training group came back because of the sudden business, they heard a small tapping sound.

Clint was tapping a USB on the metal bench. "Um, I still have this. I think we should show that video to Fury. There's no way that behavior is acceptable,"

"We still don't know who it was that knocked out one of their players. If it was one of us, then it could backfire on us," Steve reminded.

"But we know it wasn't one of us, so even if it was someone else at SHIELD Westwood should still get in trouble," Clint began.

"Clint,"

"And choking someone and giving death threats isn't something that should be overlooked,"

"Clint!" Natasha got his attention. And the whole groups. She sat up straight. "It was me. My hand slipped,"

Clint blinked at her. "Your hand...but why? We didn't need to take down one of their players, we could've won that game easily-"

"It wasn't my fault," Natasha sighed.

"Let her explain herself," Bucky glanced at Clint.

Natasha pursed her lips. "I was changing in the changing room, and he came in. I mean, I let him chose his fate, but he was very provocative in his actions. So when he got too close, I knocked him out,"

"What the hell," Clint gaped, anger boiling up towards the unidentified Westwood.

"Yeah," Natasha rubbed her neck. "And then later he came back with some of his friends and cornered me. Goodness knows what would've happened if I couldn't've gotten out of the mess,"

"What happened?" Tony asked, ready to give them a piece of his mind.

"A girl from Westwood saved me, she was nice," Natasha assured. "She might be here..." she glanced up to see the full gym.

"If they tried to rape you, then we have the full advantage over them!" Clint exclaimed. "We need to go to Fury and give him the tape as evidence,"

"Now?" Steve stood up.

"Why not?" Thor shrugged, not the only one ready to serve justice. The group sparring had come over to them since the gym had become crowded from the new arrivals. He picked up his bag, as did most others, and they began to leave the crowded gym.

**...SceneChange...**

The group was walking down the empty hallways towards Fury's office. Laughter and comments echoed through all the way back to where Tony was walking.

He was walking by himself, already exhausted from the days work. It wasn't soon before his longtime friend, Bruce, fell back to walk with him.

"Tony, we have not had any time to ourselves lately," Bruce nudged him. "We haven't hung out in ages,"

Tony smiled, staring at the floor. "Yeah, pity,"

"With all the new kids, the whole Hydra issue, Stephen-"

"What about Stephen?" Tony snapped.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "What about Stephen?"

Tony turned his head, hiding either fluster or annoyance. "Nothing about him,"

"It's just you two seemed to hang out a lot, a factor to why we haven't hung out properly in ages. Which is fine by the way," Bruce shrugged.

Tony averted his era from Bruce. "Yeah..."

"So how was Saturday with Howard? Boring as always?" Bruce smiled.

Tony paused and slowed down. Bruce frowned and slowed down with him. Tony leaned against a door thinking it was a wall to balance himself and stumble inside the empty classroom.

"Tony, what's wrong?" Bruce asked, rushing in beside him, holding him.

Tony took deep breaths and sat down back on a chair. "Nothing- I'm fine, it's fine-"

Bruce frowned. "It's not fine, you're...hyperventilating-"

"It's normal, probably one of my attacks," Tony waved off, staring at the ground. "It'll pass. Hold on-" He coughed and covered his face, which began to stream with tears.

"Tony, it's not fine, come one," Bruce sat down with him. "What's wrong? What happened?" Tony didn't answer. Bruce stared at him and properly noticed the new scars and bruises. "Was it him again?"

Tony nodded. "He did it, and that's why she went, and- and then later he blamed me, and I- I don't want to go back there,"

"To your house?"

"He blames me, for what happened, and it was- I- he keeps doing it-"

Bruce kept his anger down. "Tony, we need to tell someone about this,"

Tony laughed almost hysterically. "That's what Steve said, no I can't,"

Bruce frowned. "Steve? Tony, what happened?" Tony's hands were shaking. "What happened?"

"I don't know- you didn't answer my calls, and I panicked- and I went to his house, for some reason- and he's the only one who knows- I-" Tony spoke fast, his vision blurring.

Bruce nodded, trying to catch on. "What really happened Tony, I need to know if I'm going to help,"

Tony shook his head, his words harder to formulate as his breaths got heavier. "I- I was supposed to go, not her," He ran his fingers through his hair. "But he beat me too bad that I couldn't go, so she went instead, and then-then...I got the call and the hospital- they said, she-" Tony paused for a moment.

"Tony..." Bruce narrowed his eyes, afraid of what he was going to say.

He swallowed. "She died Bruce, in the hospital," he whispered.

Bruce pursed his lips. "Your...mother?" Tony nodded, his breaths audible to the next room. Bruce stood up, turning over a chair. "Oh my god Tony, what on earth are you doing at school, you should be rest- uh, not doing school-" He rubbed his forehead and the bridge of his nose.

Tony forced a smiled and collapsed into tears again. "Yeah...I need a distraction- it's too much for me to handle,"

Bruce calmed his breaths down. "Alright, okay, who-who knows about this?" He gestured to the door. "There's no way they knew,"

"No, just you- and Steve," Tony said, his mouth full of emotions.

Bruce nodded, processing the information. "Oh my god," he turned around. "Okay, um,"

Tony gave a small sigh in between his breaths. "I don't want to go back,"

Bruce turned back to face him. "You don't have to, come back to my place, at least until we think of something better,"

Tony wiped the flowing stream of tears. "Um, thanks,"

Bruce sat down with him and placed an arm around his shoulder. "What...else do you need?" he asked in a soft voice.

Tony shook faintly and blinked. "Nothing. I don't know," he sighed. "Don't tell anyone yet,"

Bruce nodded, staring off into the distance. "That's easy,"

There was some silence as they sat there in the room. Tony had calmed down a bit. "I don't like Stephen,"

"Yeah?" Bruce hummed.

"Yeah," Tony insisted. "He's annoying,"

"Right,"

"And he's too nice, pretending. A teacher's pet," Tony said. "He won't leave me alone," He remembered the first detention they had, in the library, where Stephen confessed to wanting to be friends at some point.

Bruce sighed. "And...do you dislike him?"

"I said I don't like him, so yes, I dislike him,"

Bruce smirked. "Right,"

Tony frowned at him. "He's really annoying, and he keeps, staring at me, or something-" Tony stuttered. "Anyway, I'm not good at being nice, but he keeps being nice to me. It's stupid,"

"You're fine at being nice. You're one of the nicest people I've ever met," Bruce smiled. "You're only rude to people if you dislike them or you don't know how to act around them because all your emotions are funny,"

Tony stuck out his tongue. "I do not like Stephen, Bruce. And I doubt he'll like me. Once we convince Fury with our fake friendship and we don't need to do detention anymore, I'll never talk to him again,"

"Even when he gets the answer wrong?"

Tony rubbed his eyes. "Except for that,"

Bruce grinned. He was friends with Tony long enough to know his symptoms.

**It's me, and sorry for the long wait, I'm overseas, on holiday with some of the extended family, so yay! I have the internet, thank goodness, so the updating schedule will be the same, more frequent, and hopefully, you'll enjoy it!**

**-DJ**


	18. SIXTEEN: Disappointments And Farewells

**Wanda's POV:**

I followed the others up the hallways towards Fury's office. I've never really been to this part of the school, this level is more for the higher students and Fury's office, which I never get called to. I was contently listening to Sam's rant about a waitress hitting on him in a cafe when we arrived.

The last time I stood in front of this door, I had no idea where I was. I was the new kid, waiting for someone to come and show me around. The tall, onesided mirrored door was very confronting when I first came. But now it seemed normal.

All of us in front of the office blocked the hallway and Steve decided we would definitely fill up the office. So we decided to let Natasha and Clint go in and the rest of us will wait outside. Which was painfully dreadful to wait.

Loki made a type of portal window, so we could see inside, through the one-sided mirror. We all peered into the small opening.

"Are you sure he can't see us?" Stephen asked, always unsure about Loki's magic, a small default between the two sorcerers.

"I'm sure, Stephen," Loki rolled her eyes. I balanced my knee on the edge of the seat in front of Steve to watch.

They had apparently already given him the tape because Fury silently placed the USB into his laptop. He was silently watching, small muffled sounds coming through the computer.

"Does sound come through this thing?" Thor asked from behind us.

"Yes," Loki answered. Great. That means he's being silent on purpose.

We watched intently as his facial expression didn't as much twitch or change and Clint and Nat looked like they were about to break with the edging tension.

The video ended, we knew because Fury took out the USB, and placed it on his table. "Do you mind if I keep this?"

"Yeah sure," Nat nodded, almost relived the dreading moments had passed.

Fury placed his hands together. "Alright. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You can be dismissed,"

"What?" Clint exclaimed. "Listen, Hydra's been at this for years, ever since- ever since we got here. This school shouldn't tolerate bullying. If you knew half the things they do-"

"And I do. But it's difficult to do-" Fury began but Clint was too fired up.

"Too difficult to expel them? Suspend? What about the Westwood guys? They tried to-"

"Clint," Nat stood up, calming Clint down, who had gotten up in anger.

Fury sighed. "I'll see what I can do. Dismissed,"

Clint hesitated but finally nodded, leaving with Natasha guiding him out.

Loki quickly closed the portal window and we all stood up quickly and pretended to be waiting. I patted down my dress and glanced at the door which opened up.

"I'll see what I can do," Clint mocked when Nat closed the door.

"Clint, calm down, he's going to do something," Nat sighed.

"Everyone knows that's code for 'I'm not going to do anything because I DON't CARE," Clint kicked the wall.

"We're all mad," Steve stepped forward. Before he could say anything the bell rang through the hall.

"It's maths, I'll see you around," Clint muttered, patting Nat goodbye and walked down the corridor.

Steve pursed his lips and shrugged. "Right, we should...go," He nodded and also headed off with Bucky and Peggy.

I stared after them before making my way to my locker. It was a bit annoying howFury handled it, but he should really do something about it. Hopefully, he does. From what I've seen and what I've heard, Hydra was something that should be taken down. And something definitely should be done about Westwood.

I sighed and swiped my card on my locker. I took out my books and headed to the classroom, not far from my locker.

I began to wonder about Tony and Stephen. The last class they had been ignoring each other in class, but they were still fighting to be better. We didn't get anything done when Stephen tried to show Tony the textbook but his yellow sparkling portal flickered and the textbook flew somewhere and then broke the whiteboard.

He didn't get in trouble, because it was clearly an accident, Mr. Williams said it was caused by a 'disruption in the emotions, which can cause incidents in the Enhanced,' which made Tony laugh and Stephen blush.

Since they got detention together, they seem to be working fine together. Hopefully, they can behave today. Otherwise, Loki and I will just play chess in the back again.

As I sat down in my normal spot, I glanced at the front. Tony wasn't there yet, Stephen was in his normal spot though. I frowned. Tony wasn't there when we handed in the USB. I thought for a moment. Neither was Bruce. I wonder where they went. They were there we left the Combats Gym-

I was interrupted by Loki hurrying to her seat as Mr. Williams walked in.

"Hurry up, we have much to go through today, and we can thank some of our students for that," he announced, placing his stuff on the desk. He seemed tired. He opened his mouth to say something but the door flung open, knocking over a broom that was balancing.

Tony rushed in. "Sorry I'm late," his face was flushed from running here. I turned to Loki, raising my eyebrow. "I was- with um, Fury, a thing, um, people can confirm my alibi-"

"Just sit down Mr. Stark," Mr. Williams sighed. Tony nodded and picked up the broom, and balanced it back up and sat down in his usual spot.

Mr. Willaims began talking about something about Linear Equations or straight lines or something. I lost track as Stephen pointed out that the line he drew was 'about 7 degrees too high' and leaned on my desk, doing some other equations from the textbook.

After about twenty minutes I realized the class began to talk quietly and books were being taken out. I frowned and turned to Loki. "What's going on?" I whispered.

"Um, we're doing the equations on the board,"

"Wow, really? For once?" I glanced at the board.

There was actual work to be done, and I'm pretty sure I haven't heard Tony or Stephen voice in the past 18 minutes.

Loki closed her drawing book and opened her maths one. "Yeah, Stephen was being annoying, as usual, but he stopped when he realized Tony wasn't paying attention to his boasting,"

"Wow," I stared at the two. Stephen was writing, but occasionally glanced at Tony, who looked like his was sleeping. I looked at Mr. Williams to see if he noticed. I think he's just glad Tony isn't fueling Stephen. "It's like they're both ends of a Newton's Cradle," I joked.

"It's like they're made for each other," Loki grinned.

I frowned and blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

Loki shrugged. "I don't know, it's just a feeling,"

"All of a sudden you're empathic?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, just look at them...It's hard to explain. It's stupid," she looked back down at her work and went silent.

I turned to the front and stared at them for a while. Stephen had his scarf on the side. He never used to do that. He was still staring at Tony every four seconds. I turned to Tony. He looked horrible. He had bruises all over, small scars. He was wearing his jacket, even though he normally took it off in class. He looked so tired and exhausted.

He said the bruises and scars this morning were from fighting a gang on the corner. It didn't explain his tiredness. I led my eyes back to Stephen. His eyes were trained on Tony. Staring. Why.

Then I got the funny feeling in my stomach. "I understand," I said out loud, before turning to Loki.

She looked at me. "See?"

I nodded. "It's weird. It's like they've changed to accommodate each other,"

"But they still argue to resurface their rivalry," Loki shrugged.

I nodded slightly and glanced at my work. "I ship it,"

Loki grinned. "Welcome to my world,"

** Third PV: **

Stephen closed his book as the class rushed empty. The bell had gone a few seconds ago and Mr. Williams had already given up and had left. Stephen put his stuff in his bag and folded his scarf around his neck. He glanced at Tony, who was asleep and sighed.

Stephen shook him awake. "Tony, wake up, class ended," Tony mumbled something. "Tonyyyy,"

"I'm awake!" Tony shot up, swatting anything within 30 centimeters away, hitting Stephen in the face. "Ah shoot, sorry," he winced, when he realized.

Stephen rubbed his face. "Ow?"

Tony flickered his eyes away. "Sorry, I'm just used to- nevermind," he said in a breath and grabbed his stuff to head out,"

Stephen stepped forward out into the corridor just behind him. "Wait, I just wanted to ask-"

An announcement boomed through the hall. "Can Loki Odinson, Stephen Strange, Natasha Romanov, and Tony Stark come to Fury's Office? Thank you," Maria Hill's voice echoed. Tony glared at him and walked off.

"-just wanted to ask if you were alright," Stephen sighed. "Alright then," he shrugged and made his way to the office, making sure there was some space in between him and Tony.

Behind him, Loki said bye to Wanda and went the other way to the locker to get her bag first. Stephen stared at the ground as he made the familiar journey to the principles office.

**...SceneChange...**

**Loki's POV:**

I sped walked to Fury's office. The hallways were so busy, for the end of the day, and the person under my locker was taking his time to get his stuff.

I wonder what this is about. It is a strange group, Tony, Nat, Stephen, and I. We shouldn't be in trouble, I hope. I don't want any more disappointments for my father to put on me.

As I arrived, I chucked my bag on the waiting seats outside and rushed inside.

"Sorry I'm late," I gasp, quietening down. I looked around the room. Tony and Stephen were there, with Natasha in the middle.

"Sit," Fury said, motioning next to Stephen. I quietly nodded and sat down awkwardly. Fury smiled at us. Odd. "Do any of you know about the S.S.E?"

"Um, no," Nat answers for us, as none of us spoke.

Fury neatened a pencil on his desk. "Well, the S.S.E. is the Schools Sponsor Event. Schools around the state chose some students to represent themselves. We have chosen you four,

"You are to go to the event, tomorrow night and mingle with other students, company representatives and compete in their events,"

"Compete?" I ask in confusion.

"Each company, willing to sponsor a school, have their own...competitions let's say. We already have one, each year as a default, Stark Industries," Fury nodded at Tony, "But of course it would be nice to have more, and to show other schools who we are. They aren't that hard, although I would prefer if you would...refrain from using your enhancements to your advantage unless asked specifically,"

"Um, do we have to go?" Tony asked.

"Yes, please, Mr. Stark," Fury answered. "Also, it is a semi-formal event, so do wear something formal, but something you can do your...extended activities in,"

"Alright," Stephen muttered.

"Thank you, your parents have already been notified. Dismissed," Fury said his usual line as we stood up and left together.

"Great, hopefully, I don't meet my father at this event," Tony groaned.

"What's that to mean?" Nat frowned. Tony muttered something incoherent in response.

"This'll be fun," I said sarcastically.

Stephen fiddled with his scarf. "Ahem, yeah. Semi-formal stuff, fun,"

"I'm sure you look dashing in a suit," I smirk, flickering my sight at Tony, who did a series of glares at someone.

Stephen grinned. "Right. Anyways, homework calls, I'll see you three tomorrow at school," He waved as we said bye and walked down the hall.

"I'll follow the wizard," I shrug, waving goodbye and walk off, grabbing my bag as I leave. I swallow as I grip my bag. This will be fine. It'll be fine.

I sigh. A whole evening with Stark and Strange. I'll have to remember to charge my phone for some amusing content.

**...SceneChange...**

**Third PV:**

Tony ran down the stairs and met Bruce at the sidewalk to walk to his place. "Thanks again for letting me stay at your place,"

"No problem," Bruce patted him on the back. "I've got to stop at the post office first, my mom sent me some letters,"

"Sure," They both walked up to town, not far from the school. They soon arrived at the post office, where Bruce walked inside to get the letters. Tony waited outside, near a newspaper stand, for him.

As he heard Bruce walk out, talking about the price of the magazines inside, Tony saw the familiar faces of Steve, Bucky, and Peggy. He ducked behind the newspaper stand.

"What's wrong?" Bruce frowned, trailing off after he realized Tony wasn't listening.

"Steve," Tony whispered quickly, stepping around the stand as they made their way towards them.

"Tony," Bruce sighed. They stopped at the end of the plaza. Tony peeked out from behind the stand. Peggy hugged both Steve and Bucky and they waved goodbye and walked off.

Peggy made her way towards the post office when she noticed them. She rubbed her eyes and approached them. Bruce nudged Tony, who stepped out from the stand. "Hey,"

"Hi," Bruce smiled.

"What's...wrong?" Tony found himself asking. Her eyes were red.

"Nothing really," She waved off, but then found herself explaining again.

"Oh, I'm lying, Tony, my mom's sending me back to England, I got into another school there, and I'm leaving tomorrow morning," Peggy ran her fingers through her hair.

"But that's great! I mean, you'll- you'll be with your mom, new school, it's probably a good one, um," Tony stuttered, trying to make her feel better.

"I know, it's just, I've made such good friends here, and I love SHIELD, I'll miss it," Peggy sighed. She then brightened up a bit. "But could you give me the addresses of our friends? I want to say goodbye properly to everyone tonight before I leave!"

Bruce took out his phone. "Yeah, sure, I'll text them to you," he began typing.

"Thank you!" Peggy hugged him and then turned to Tony. "Aw, I'll miss you too Tony," she hugged him too. "Everything will turn out, alright?"

"There, all sent," Bruce put away his phone as Peggy's text tone beeped.

"Thank, I should really head off if I'm going to get to everyone," Peggy said sadly. "I'm going to miss everyone ugh,"

"We'll miss you too," Tony smiled.

Peggy chucked a letter into the post box behind them. "I'll see you around then, stay connected!"

"Bye!" Bruce and Tony called in unison

"Bye!"

There was a bit of silence before Tony nodded. "Right. Um, okay,"

Bruce patted him. "We should go too,"

"Yeah,"

**...SceneChange...**

Steve and Bucky were walked alongside each other on the sidewalk. "Will you miss her?" Bucky asked.

"Of course," Steve answered.

"Yeah, that was a stupid question. It was nice to see her again though, after all that time,"

Steve nodded.

Bucky didn't know whether he felt happy that she left or upset. He certainly felt upset, she was their friend. She made Steve happy. But the mixed feelings didn't help.

**see**

Bucky blinked in surprise. 'See what?'

**she left. now steve will care only for you**

'Does this mean I don't have to flirt with Nat anymore?'

**that's your choice, but now steve is ours**

'But Steve is for everyone,'

**but see how that went? peggy took him away from you. now tony stark will too**

'But Tony is his friend,'

**best friend. before you came they were best friends remember? now they're healing their friendship and steve will dump you**

Bucky stared forward, unaware of his surroundings, listening to The Winter Soldier instead. 'I- what do I do?'

**make sure they don't be all friendly with each other again. it's easy, you've done it before.**

"Buck? Are you alright?" Steve nudged him.

"What?" Bucky snapped back into reality. "What? Yeah?"

"Are... you alright?"

Bucky nodded, a bit too fast. "Yeah, of course," he took a breath.

Steve smiled. "Right,"

Bucky thought for a moment. "Are you and Tony on good terms now?"

"Um, maybe? I don't know. Tony's a hard person to understand. I think we don't hate each other anymore, but not all friendly like we used to be, so, I don't know," Steve sighed.

"Huh, okay. Well, Stephen is getting closer," Bucky spoke his mind.

"Yeah, you're right," Steve muttered. "I never noticed,"

"Jealous?" Bucky grinned, jokingly.

"What? No?" Steve spluttered.

Bucky laughed. "Alright," The Winter Soldier was wrong. Steve was everyone's, and his friend. Nothing would change that.


	19. SEVENTEEN: Socialising Sucks

**I realized the Specialized Classes might be a bit confusing for everyone, so here's the list of 'Specialized Classes' the characters go through:**

**Reminder- **Specialized Enhanced OR Skilled

**Specialized Combats: **Includes anyone Specialized, focus on tactics, hand to hand and basic weapon skills.

**Skilled Combats: **Includes only people from Skilled, focus on the individual's skill set and things the Skilled face.

**Enhanced Combats: **Includes only people from Enhanced, focus on the individual's enhancement and things the Enhanced face.

**Skilled Situations: **Includes only people from Skilled, focus on tactics, strategies, and stimulations.

**Enhanced Worldwide: **(Lesser class) Includes only people from Enhanced, focus on them in the outside world, how to act, conceal and the laws.

**Specialized Theory: **Includes anyone Specialized, focus on the theory of things, history, future, laws, people, government and SHIELD.

**Sports Gym: **

**Combats Gym: **For Specialized Combats, contains training stuff they use in class. Sometimes open at recess and lunch for students.

**Skilled Gym: **Has more advanced facilities that fit for the skill sets of the individuals.

**Enhanced Gym: **A lot more fortified and supported. Made with absorbable materials(Like in Agents Of Shield)for the Enhanced. Facilities fit for the skill sets of the individuals.

**I hope that clears some confusion! **

The Combats gym was the perfect size for the class. At least it used to be. Ever since Shield ever so kindly let Westwood in to share its facilities, the Combats gym had been full almost all the time. Mrs. Adams seemed to be calm but everyone could feel the tension between each other.

Sharing a gym, specialized for fighting, with long-lasting rivals was never a good idea. On one side was Westwood, doing some basic boxing techniques and Shield was on the other, where Mrs. Adams was trying to teach a technique. It was getting hard, with at least three students turning their heads to inspect Westwood.

"Alright, cut it out! One more person looks over there, they'll be on time out!" Mrs. Adams shouted as Clint made a face at Westwood.

She rubbed her forehead. "Alright, one more time. Be careful, the attacker will..."

Her voice drowned out as the Westwood's teacher whistled for a break. Loud hustling was heard as the noisy students went to the taps and did some things. Mrs. Adams groaned and decided to give them a break too.

"At least Westwood is good for something," Clint grinned, taking out some chips. "I'm starving,"

"Look, that's her, the one who helped me at the game," Natasha pointed out. Everyone turned to the direction Natasha pointed to. "Don't all look at once," She slapped Clint, who was next to her.

The group turned back. "Alright, describe what she's doing," Steve asked.

"And how she looks like," Thor added. The busy crowd didn't let them see her properly.

Natasha squinted. "Well, her name is Valkyrie Brunhilde. She has dark tanned skin and white tattoos on her neck and bottom of her cheeks. Dark hair...oh she'd headed to us, act normal," Everyone suddenly began talking randomly, pretending to be normal.

"Hey Nat," Val walked over. Everyone flashed a glance at her. "These your friends?"

Natasha smiled. "Yeah, these are my friends, nice to see you here,"

"Yeah... sorry about invading your gym. It's so nice!" Val laughed. "I think you'll like to know that Jackson got suspended. Sadly not for the crime that he committed against you, but because he was found in the possession of alcohol,"

"It's the best we're gonna get," Clint shrugged, stuffing his face with chips.

"This is Clint Barton," Natasha introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Clint," Val smiled. "Is he your..."

Natasha laughed. "Oh no, we're just great friends since primary school,"

"Sweet," Val grinned.

Natasha faced her other friends. "This is Tony Stark,"

"Yeah, I know him from the media,"

"Thor Odinson,"

"Nice abs,"

"Loki Odinson,"

"Brother? You look so unlike each other,"

"Steve Rogers,"

"Neat,"

"Bucky Barnes,"

"Love the eyeliner dude!"

"Sam Wilson,"

"Great shirt,"

"Wanda Maximof,"

"Woah, amazing hair,"

"And last but not least, Stephen Strange,"

"Strange?"

Stephen pursed his lips. "Yup,"

"Don't judge him, it's... strange," Tony joked, crossing his arms. Stephen rolled his eyes.

Val chuckled. "Haha, I could make so many jokes on that last name,"

"Believe me, they've been made," Stephen said, amused.

Val turned to Tony. "Are the rumors true?"

Tony slowed down. "What rumors?" He asked cautiously.

Val frowned. "On the media, about your mother? Your father's supposedly going to the press this afternoon to confirm it," She looked around awkwardly at the confused group. "Do they know... about the rumors?"

"Tony, what's this about?" Natasha asked.

Tony shook his head. "Oh, it's um, nothing- important, just another announcement...as usual- you know," he swallowed. Control.

Val gaped slightly. "It's true," she whispered.

"What? No, it's not- not true, I mean, not true, final," Tony spluttered, mixing up his words, not knowing where to put his hands.

Stephen frowned down at Tony. "Tony," he left his mouth open trying to say something but was interrupted by Clint.

"Hold on a flipping second," he exclaimed, holding out his phone. "Is it true?" He leaned forward.

"What's true?" Natasha pushed a pressure point on him and stole his phone. She read it and her face fell. "Tony..."

"I need to leave-" Tony began, wishing Bruce was there.

Stephen eyed Natasha. "What is it, Nat,"

Natasha gaped at the phone and looked up at him. "It can't be true," her hands wobbled.

Tony took a deep breath as he stepped out of the circle. "It is," he stated before he ran off.

"Oh my goodness," Natasha cover her mouth, leaving Clint's phone on her lap, revealing the headline: 'Maria Stark - Dead or Alive?'

**...SceneChange...**

**That Evening:**

Stephen walked down the path to where the S.S.E. would take place. As he approached, he paused for a moment as he spotted Tony at the bottom of the entrance stairs, behind the bundle of people waiting to be admitted into the event.

He tugged on his shirt and walked up to him. Tony was pacing around, waiting for something, mumbling to himself.

"Hey," Stephen waved, ducking a bit to be at Tony's height.

Tony looked up, almost startled. "Oh- um- hi, Stephen," He forced a smile.

Stephen awkwardly looked down. "Um, I'm sorry about what happened to your mom, I heard on the news... we all tried to look for you at lunch, but you disappeared-"

"It's fine," Tony shrugged, avoiding eye-contact.

"Since when...?"

"Saturday morning,"

Stephen stared down at Tony again, who was looked at the ground. Tony had always been shorter than him, and Stephen had gotten used to looking down to talk to him. He had gotten used to walking a bit slower than him when they walked together so he could catch up to his long legs.

He'd gotten used to his obnoxious voice and his break downs. His boastfulness and modestness. His blushing face when he got flustered for some reason, the avoidance, the smart comments in class.

Stephen suddenly got a thought.

Tony was supposed to be in that car. In the same spot that Maria Stark was in when she got badly injured. He was supposed to be there, what if he was. Stephen stared wide-eyed at Tony, he put his hands in his pockets.

Stephen steadied a heavy breath he let out. What if. He swallowed. What if. "Tony, I-" he stopped.

Tony looked back up at him, confused. "Yeah?"

Stephen flickered his glance away. "I just-" His breathing got all jumbled. He thought for a bit. Before he knew it he found him himself wrapping his arms around Tony. "I'm sorry,"

Tony frowned and hugged back. This was unexpected, not something he was used to, especially from Stephen. "You're not wearing your scarf," he realized out loud as he laid his head on Stephen's chest, normally where the scarf was.

Stephen let go of the hug. "Why would I wear my scarf with a semi-formal outfit? And distract you from all the important things we need to do," he looked away, grinning.

Tony opened his mouth in defense but it turned into a smile and a shake of the head. "Let's go inside,"

They walked up to the stairs to the guard person at the entrance to give out their lanyards.

"Name?" The guard asked sternly.

"Stephen Strange," The guard passed him a lanyard.

"Um, Tony Stark," Tony smiled, as he was passed the lanyard.

"Head in,"

The two walked into the big building. Inside, there were tables lined up with schools presenting. Shield didn't have a table, they had people to represent on the stage, which was at the end of the enormous hall. The S.S.E. had a stage at the end, where they held small activities and such for the Specialized schools to present to possible sponsors.

"That's a lot of people," Stephen raised his eyebrow. "We should find Nat and Loki if they're here,"

They walked around, looking at all the tables and eying the company representatives who were giving out sponsor information.

"The stage has people on there, let's go see," Stephen suggested, glancing at Tony, who was looking around, looking for something.

Tony turned his attention to him. "Oh, yeah, let's,"

They approached the stage so they could see what was going on. The pair up there were from different schools and were competing on their speed to complete a complicated physics question.

Tony smirked, looking up beside him to Stephen. "If only we were in different schools, I'd win in seconds,"

"If we were in different schools we'd not even know each other," Stephen rolled his eyes.

"Ahem," a voice behind them appeared. The two turned around and when Tony saw who it was, he began to leave. "Tony," It was Howard Stark.

Tony turned back, avoiding his eyes. Stephen glanced between them. "What?" Tony asked sourly.

Howard sighed. "You haven't been home in two days,"

"I texted you,"

"Yes, I know you were at Bruce's. I was just wondering why you'd prefer to stay with a friend than with family in these difficult times," Howard asked calmly.

Tony looked up at him. "Friends over family? I didn't choose friends over family. I chose family over...you,-"

Howard leaned forward, holding out his finger. "We- are not doing this now Tony,"

"We're going to do it never," Tony insisted.

Howard's eyes led to Stephen, who blinked rapidly and awkwardly. "And this is Stephen I see," changing the subject.

"Uh, yes," Stephen stuttered.

Howard turned back to Tony, who was almost red with anger. "I got your science project marks back,"

"Early?" Tony frowned. Stephen stared into his eyes that seemed to be filled with fear.

Howard placed his hands together. "Yes. You got one-hundred percent," Relief washed over Tony. Stephen stood there confused.

"We got one-hundred percent. Stephen was my partner, it's a collective grade," Tony said firmly.

Howard looked between them. "Your normal grade is one-hundred and five, work harder,"

Stephen glanced at Tony, who had a face of annoyance. Tony stepped forward. "I'm not going to work harder!" he said a little too loud. People around them turned to them in confusion. Howard turned back, frowning at the attention.

Stephen quickly held Tony's arm. Tony's tense muscles loosened a bit. "Calm down," Stephen whispered into his ear.

Tony swallowed. "That's all I've been doing my whole life," He whispered harshly at his father. "I'm not going to try harder. The only reason I'll try harder is to beat Stephen at everything, not to make you proud, because you'll never be proud,"

Stephen bent down again. "Tony, maybe not here is the best time, people are watching,"

Tony ignored him. "I bet you wished I was in that car instead if I died you'd be glad a burden left you. Now you're stuck with me, and I'm stuck with you. And yes, I do wish you died instead of her- you-"

He got cut off as Stephen pulled him behind a cardboard cut-out of a smiling girl. The crowd slowly walked off. Howard sighed and turned back to his business.

"Stephen," Tony gasped as Stephen let go of his mouth. He stepped back from the wizard. "Oh my goodness," He ran both his hands through his hair.

Stephen crossed his arms. "What- what was the thing, about the grades?"

Tony peeked out from behind the cluster of cardboard cut-outs. "Um, he would've taken me out of Shield if I didn't get a one-hundred,"

"But, you normally get one-hundreds anyway..."

Tony turned to face him awkwardly. "Because he thought you were a poor excuse of an intellect...and," he found himself feeling warm. "I defended you, but only because I needed to have an argument against my father," he quickly added.

Stephen thought about this. "So, he thought you wouldn't get a one-hundred because I was your partner,"

Tony nodded. "Yeah, because you're a," he did air quotation marks, "'poor excuse of an intellect'," Tony looked back up at Stephen and smirked. "Which you are, don't get me wrong," he joked.

Stephen broke in a laugh. "You wish," he shook his head and led Tony back out. "We really should find Nat and Loki, they'll be here soon,"

Tony broke free of Stephen's hold. "Alright," They scanned the crowd. "I think they're over there, see,"

They walked over and it was them. "You guys! We've been looking for you everywhere," Natasha exclaimed. "Where were you?"

"Hiding behind some cardboard cut-outs," Tony shrugged. "Ooh is that chocolate?" he stepped over to the refreshments table and picked up some food.

Natasha frowned at Stephen. Loki smirked. Stephen sighed disapprovingly at them. "We were hiding from Howard Stark alright? Don't get any ideas," he waved them off, picking up a cookie.

Natasha laughed. "Alright alright," she took out some papers. "Here's the list Fury gave us of which sponsors we should aim for. It says, avoid Hammer Industries at all costs. Um, aim for Oscorp, Stark which we already have, and some of the other tech companies,"

"Easy as pie," Loki stretched his fingers.

"Do we want to go up onto the stage?" Tony asked with his mouth full of cake.

"Do you?" Natasha repeated back to him.

"Sure," Tony made his way onto the stage. "Watch and weep," he winked at Stephen.

The person on stage whispered something to him and Tony answered. The person got the microphone and announced, "We have Tony Stark from SHIELD Academy, versing Lincoln Campbell **(Agent Of Shield anyone? :D)** from Summer Institute For Inhumans competing in Counter Attacks,"

People began to watch the activity, most of them being sponsors. The person continued to talk. "One will 'attack' and the other will have to counter it. No actual attacks though. Begin," he stepped aside.

The blond haired boy faced Tony. "You first?"

Tony shrugged. "I'll let you go first,"

Lincoln shrugged and powered up his fists. Lightning was visible as Lincoln warned Tony of his attack. Tony pursed his lips. He was Enhanced, Tony shrugged. He rigged up his gauntlet and held up his arm, signaling he was ready.

Lincoln frowned in confusion but let the energy surge through his body, lightning flowing through the air towards Tony in a matter of seconds. People in the crowd gasped. Tony's gauntlet activated, absorbing the energy into his palm.

More metal seemed to appear, around Tony's arm, the usual gantlet his friends were used to, grew, metal crawling up his arm up to his shoulder. Patterns on the metal glowed bright blue from the energy surge.

Tony did a motion with his hands and used them to boost himself upwards into the air. He did a flip over Lincoln and landed behind him, holding out his powered palm behind his head, waiting for a response. No actual attacks.

Lincoln didn't turn around but he knew Tony had his arm upon him. He thought for a moment to think up of a counter-attack. He grabbed Tony's arm from behind and attempted to flip him over him.

Tony's shoes suddenly turned into his metal boots and as Lincoln brought him down, he propped his feet against the floor, boosting him up again into the air where he hovered, still holding his hands out towards Lincoln.

Lincoln frowned at him furiously. Tony was using Tech as his weapon, Lincoln was using lightning as his weapon. Lincoln should be about to beat Tony at his own game, seeing technology was based on electricity. Obviously, Tony had thought about this before and made a device to absorb any extra energy anyway** (Endgame flashbacks ;0).**

Lincoln decided to distract him. He shot a blast to the right of Tony, where he stuck out his arm to absorb the energy, taking his eyes of Lincoln for a millisecond. Lincoln took this advantage and ran up to Tony, grabbing onto his leg, pushing energy into it.

Tony glanced down, annoyed as he fell to the ground. They both landed, but Tony moved faster. He lifted his leg up, pushing Lincoln down and jumped on top of him, holding him down. Lincoln struggled to get up.

He tried to surge energy through every part of him, but Tony held him down with both his gauntlets and boots, absorbing anything Lincoln tried to shoot out. Lincoln then tapped out, Tony standing back out.

"Winner is Tony Stark from SHIELD Academy!" The person exclaimed, patting Tony and Lincoln on the back. "If you are a representative student, come on to the stage and show everyone what you're capable of!"

Tony smiled at Lincoln and stepped off the stage. "See, I won," he boasted, mainly at Stephen.

Stephen stepped closer to him. "You beat an Enhanced that easily?" Tony smiled, showing off, ready to rebut whatever insult Stephen was going to say. "Your upgrade was pretty cool,"

Tony faltered. "Huh?"

Stephen shrugged. "Don't make me say it again,"

"Does it hurt your ego too much?" Tony teased.

"No, I just don't want yours to grow," Stephen rolled his eyes.

"I think you're mixing up 'ego' and 'IQ' up," Tony stepped forward, provoking him.

Stephen made an amused face, "I think I know the difference between 'ego' and an IQ, and I'm sure your IQ is below average, just like your height,"

Tony broke into a smile he tried to disguise as an offended face. "Are you calling me short? Running out of smart insults?"

Stephen stepped forward more. "Well, maybe that's just because it's too hard to insult you-,"

"You see me as soft?" Tony exclaimed, looking up at him as he was standing too close.

Loki and Natasha glanced at each other in amusement. Loki had his phone out.

Stephen looked down at Tony, as they were only around 30 centimeters away from each other. "No, because you're so small I thought any insult would break you," he smirked.

Tony decided against stepping closer to Stephen and ended up on his tiptoes. "Height insults again! You stop that or else I'll have no choice but to actually insult you,"

"Actually insult me? I thought those meek insults were the best you had,"

Tony gaped, faking his offended look. "The best I had? I'll show the best I have, and you'll be-" Tony glanced to the side, spotting Loki's phone and Natasha's amused face. "Hey!" He stumbled to the side, standing normally now.

Stephen stepped toward them. "Have you been filming this whole time?" Loki didn't answer. "Hey! Give me that phone!"

"At least you didn't kiss!" Natasha giggled, covering her mouth and ducking and Tony chucked a muffin at her. She caught it and stuffed in her mouth, running away from Tony as he began to chase her.

Stephen turned to Loki. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,"

Loki put down the phone. "Aww...no way Strange, this is flirting gold,"

"Flirting? Last time I checked, this was called insulting,"

"'I can't insult you properly because you're too perfect to insult,'" Loki mocked, holding his phone away from Stephen's failed attempt to grab it.

"That's not what I said!"

"It's what you meant," Loki grinned.

Stephen opened his mouth to say something but didn't. "Fine, you see it as you do, but it was not flirting, it was our- our rivalry, thing," Loki shrugged and slowly began to walk off. "No you're not," Stephen launched himself after Loki, who took off.

It wasn't long before the two pairs found themselves in the garden, completely out of breath. Tony collapsed onto the grass in front of the still pool under the moon gasping. Loki sat on the bench, putting his phone safety in his pocket. Natasha sat down next to Tony, not even breaking sweat. Stephen was just panting on this side, trying not to die.

"Give...it...to...me, Loki!" Stephen panted, not making any more effort to chase him.

Loki shook his head. Tony turned his head to Stephen, who stumbled onto the grass next to Natasha, laying down too. "Relax wizard, I already deleted it,"

"What?" Loki and Stephen said at the same time.

Loki took out his phone and check it. "How?" He kept swiping around, not able to find the missing video.

Stephen sat up and looked Tony in disbelief. "You made me run all that for nothing?" he exclaimed, breaking his normal calm facade. "How?"

Tony let out an amused breath. "Easy, if your phone is connected to Bluetooth and Wifi, it's easy to hack,"

Stephen toppled back down. "How are you even in the same year as me, you brilliant idiot," he said, exhausted.

Natasha grinned at both of them, Tony didn't hear Stephen and Stephen didn't hear Tony mumble; "How long till this idiot thinks I can do more than blush?"

Loki looked down at all three on the grass in front of him with a smile. He got an idea.


	20. EIGHTEEN: More Schemes

"You really think they're going to fall for that?" Wanda exclaimed, placing some books onto the table and sitting down.

"Yes!" Loki sat down opposite her, lowering her voice since they were in the library. "I mean, have you seen them? Who's going to give them the push if not us?"

Wanda rolled her eyes. "I know what you mean, but I meant, how on earth are we supposed to convince them? Especially Stephen,"

Loki opened a book. "That's why I have a plan,"

"Alright, tell me your master plan,"

Loki folded her arms. "Easy. I convince Tony, and you convince Stephen,"

"That's it?" Wanda raised her eyebrow.

Loki frowned at her. "I know what it sounds like, but, Stephen is friends with you, and with what happened last night, Stephen won't trust me,"

"And Tony will?"

"Maybe not, but I know how to convince him," Loki assured.

Wanda sighed. "...Alright, I'll help with the plan," Loki brightened up. "Except, if something goes wrong, I'm blaming you,"

Loki nodded. "That's fair. Alright, the date info will be 6:30 pm, tomorrow night at the Red Room Restaurant, okay?"

"Got it," Wanda nodded. Loki grinned and began reading the book. Wanda sighed. "I'll go find Stephen," She stood up and began to leave.

As Loki was about to say bye, Wanda suddenly ducked behind a bookshelf and shushed Loki. "What?" Loki whispered.

Wanda shook her head and peeked through a small opening in the bookshelf. Loki quietly got up and snuck beside her, also peering through the gap. Vision was in the aisle, going through some books.

"What's wrong with him?" Loki whispered again.

Wanda grabbed her shoulders and ducked down, so they were both sitting on the ground, leaning back on the bookshelf. "Nothing,"

"Then why are you avoiding him?" She asked, trying to look back into the aisle.

Wanda frowned and poked Loki's face to face her. "I'm trying to avoid him okay?"

"Why? I thought you were all happy together."

Wanda sighed. "He's moving upstate for some scientific research or something about his medical conditions. He told me on our third date," she explained.

Loki made a fake pouting face. "Aw, that's too bad,"

"Jeez," Wanda playfully shoved him. "I was happy, and I'm happy for him. I just avoiding him because it's awkward,"

"If I was to avoid everything awkward in my life I would've already left the school, it's fine," Loki said.

Wanda faced forward. "I know, I'd just rather not, you know. Plus, I've got so much more to do, like set up a blind date with Stephen and Tony," she patted Loki on the head, to which she scowled at, but eventually stood up with her.

Wanda grinned and waved bye. "I'll see you later," she sneakily walked passed the aisle and left the library without a disturbance. Loki smiled after her, already formulating the arguments to convince Tony to go on a blind date.

**...SceneChange...**

Science Project Presentation Class, Stephen thought, as he fumbled with the cable to put into the tv to present to the class. He was agitated for some reason that class, maybe something to do with Tony's happy mood.

Tony was doing some quick finishing touches on Dum-E behind the cardboard box as the teacher shushed up the class from the previous presentation where the partners presented a faulty microwave which blew upon them.

The screen flickered with the information Stephen had typed up and he turned to the front with a smile, fake, obviously, ready to present. The teacher had successfully quietened the class and motioned Stephen to begin. Stephen clenched his teeth and glanced at Tony, who gave him the thumbs up.

Stephen nodded firmly and turned back to the class, who was staring at his slideshow. "Okay, so after some, ahem, unfortunate changes in partners due to a mishap, Tony and I were put together to do this assignment," he pressed to the next slide.

It had some statistics and stuff, where he began boring the class with him and Tony's high-level of intelligence and expertise. He went through some couple of slides, impressing the teacher.

Then he got to the actual device they were supposed to present. "I-Tony-"

"Ahem," Tony coughed.

Stephen sighed. "I mean, WE both created this...robot assisting...thing-"

Tony shoved him aside. "So, we both know the wizard isn't the brightest in robotics, so I'll interfere," He gave his iconic arrogant smile which made Stephen almost not get mad at him for shoving him into the residue of the microwave mess.

"This is...Dum-E," Tony took off the cardboard cover and revealed the droid. It was holding a banner saying 'Give Us An A+' and was very excited from all the attention it suddenly was given. A collection of 'ooh', 'ahh', and 'cool' echoed through the room.

Tony grinned, winking at Stephen who rolled his eyes and just stuffed his face in his scarf, getting slightly madder for no reasons. Tony turned back to the class. "We created this helping assistant for anyone in the house, although I only really would use it to pass me drinks. It's very interactive and listens to you, most of the time, that's caused by his reluctance and stupidity rather and mechanical failure,

"I would've made it mooore complicated but Stephen here has a limited IQ," Tony teased, sneaking a glance at him, who gave back a snarky smile covered in sarcasm.

"Thank you, Mr Stark and Mr Strange," the astonished teacher said, "you didn't need to invent an entire robot for this but," she blinked.

"No problem, anything for the extra marks," Tony winked at her and stuffed the cardboard box back over Dum-E's head. He and Stephen walked back to their seats.

" I think that went well, we didn't argue once," Tony said to Stephen as they sat down, ignoring the next people going up.

Stephen sighed and slumped on his desk, laying his head on his arms and scarf. "Yeah,"

Tony frowned. "You don't sound so happy about it though. We already know we got a hundred per cent, this was pretty much for us to get like a fifteen per cent bonus,"

Stephen shrugged. "Yeah,"

Tony flickered his eyelid in frustration. He leaned down a bit on his desk to whisper better. "Give me something other than 'yeah', you glum bum,"

Stephen blinked before turning to face Tony with unenthusiasm. "What? You need my approval or reaction to feel good about yourself?"

"What? No, just your face alone makes me feel not good about myself," Tony joked, eying him. Stephen sighed and turned his face back to the front. Tony groaned. "Come on Strange, we got a win! We didn't murder each other during this assignment,"

"I see it as a normal thing,"

"But it's me," Tony whined.

"Are you special?" Stephen rolled his eyes.

Tony felt aback. "No,"

"Then no problem," Stephen grumbled. He didn't say anything else.

Tony frowned and turned back to the front and leaned on his desk as well. He wasn't special. Why would he be? He was so easily cut off by Stephen. He huffed. Why did he care about this? It was stupid. Stephen was stupid.

**...SceneChange...**

Stephen's anger had loosened and he had calmed down a bit after Science. He had gotten his lunch and was walking down the hallways. After a bit, he frowned and stopped walking for a second. A muffled sound of a bump was heard behind him.

He raised his eyebrow and continued to walk. After a few metres and stopped again. He heard some quick footsteps. He slowly turned and around. There wasn't anyone there. He took a few steps forward and frowned behind a pillar.

Wanda was there, her back to the pillar, looking like she had hurriedly hidden there. "Hi-i, Stephen!"

Stephen crossed his arms. "If you're going to follow someone, you should wear quieter shoes,"

Wanda stood up normally. "Follow? I'm not following you, I was...approaching you, and I saw," she looked around her. "This...fascinating pillar...and..."

"Just admit it,"

"Fine,"

"What did you need so much you need to shadow me?" Stephen asked as he began to continue to walk.

Wanda followed him, beside him. "Um, well, it was actually more of me approaching you and contemplating at the same time, thus the haste and hiding,"

"So?"

Wanda gulped. "Well, I was just wondering if you were up to a... hard task? Something to do for me?" she stared at Stephen for an answer.

Stephen shrugged. "Depends on what it is,"

Wanda waved it off. "Nevermind, you probably couldn't do it, I'll just ask Tony he'll easily want to do it,"

Stephen's senses sharpened. "No, what is it, I'll do it. If you considered me first then I might be the best option,"

Wanda grinned. "A blind date,"

Stephen frowned. "I'll... do this for you?"

"Yes, you're my friend _aaa_and you're single and sad, so," Wanda balanced her reasons.

"Thanks," Stephen said sarcastically. "You would as Tony instead?"

Wanda opened her mouth as she paused for something to say. She had planned properly this far. "Tony...and you seem to like the same type...so,"

"Tell me her first. I don't like being too blind," Stephen edged.

Wanda brightened up. "Alright, um, she's smart, like you, although you're fields aren't always the same,"

Stephen nodded. "Okay, so we would have stuff in common,"

"Exactly! And she's... funny and sarcastic, she likes to study and stuff but she's also very carefree, you'd say she was a bit weird too," Wanda thought cringingly as she thought of good qualities of Tony.

"Anything else?"

Wanda racked her brain. "Um, well, she has many friends and is very opened minded. A genius some say, a show off to others... good fun at a party?"

Stephen thought for a bit. "This is also Tony's type?"

Wanda smiled, hiding her amusement. "Yup. Are you turned on by her... um, description?"

Stephen shrugged again. "I guess she is sort of my type, I don't know,"

"So the blind date?"

Stephen sighed. "I'll... take it," he finally said, knowing he'll regret it.

Wanda grinned ecstatically. "Wonderful, great, brilliant, right, details, um, 6:30 pm tomorrow at the Red Room Restuarant,"

Stephen nodded, mentally writing it down. "What do I look for?"

Wanda put her hands on her hips. "Well, she's short... black hair? She'll dress nice,"

"Okay, thanks for the um, set up," Stephen frowned, with a smile.

"No worries. Thanks for the favour," Wanda winked. "See you around," she walked spit at the entrance of the library and exited to find her friends.

Stephen waved goodbye and lowered his hand in confusion. He was so confused into what he'd gotten himself into. Why did he accept this? He didn't date, no one really was into him and he wasn't really into anyone.

He walked into the library and found a spot to read and think. Was his type really so similar to Tony's? What was his own type? What are the types?

He thought of the description of the girl. Smart, funny, carefree but studies a lot, and very sarcastic, apparently. He frowned. It sounded like his own description. Stephen rubbed his forehead. Now he had to leave the house tomorrow night. This was going to be fun.

**...SceneChange...**

Loki had her baggiest and biggest dark green sweater to cover any part of her body that defined her 'femininity' and yet she had to sprint through the grounds to get away from the insults getting thrown around at her.

She managed to find Tony in the Combats gym testing his new updates to his 'special project'. Loki entered the gym, ignoring the silly comments made at her by the Westwood invaders. She hopped over the Tony.

"Hello!"

Tony turned to her with a tired look. "How are you doing Lokes?"

"Shielding myself from the these um, insults is what I think they think they throwing at me, but I don't know," She joked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, these Westwood's are getting on my nerves. Anyway, what'd you need?" Tony got out of the air and landed next to her.

"Need? Well, if we're gonna skip the small talk, then sure, let's do this," Loki rubbed her matchmaking hands. "I've found a wonderful person I think you'd love but they've set it up so you can only meet them on a blind date,"

"A blind date?" Tony seemed exclaimed. "I've done them before, normally it's because they're ugly,"

Loki sighed. "I know they're not ugly because I know who they are, I know you like them,"

Tony raised his eyebrow. "I like them? Sure, tell me the next joke," He took off his protective gloves.

"Come on Tony, how long has it since you've done anything fun? We haven't had a Stark Party once this year, you've changed," Loki insisted.

"And for the better," Tony stated. "According to Stephen," he added.

Loki pursed her lips to hide a smile. "And? Since when do you listen to Stephen? It'll loosen you off a bit. You've been so stressed lately, it's be something fun,"

"A blind date won't be stressful?" Tony frowned at Loki.

"For normal people they are, but you're Tony Stark, you don't care about that sort of stuff," Loki continued her prepared arguments.

Tony debated it in his head. "So you're telling me to do this for fun... to relieve stress... and to not really care about it? That's everything Stephen said not to do with dates like a year back,"

Loki looked up. "And since when did you listen to Stephen?" She had a little glee inside her from finding out Tony's sudden concern about Stephen's opinions.

Tony sighed. "Fine, give me the details,"

"6:30 pm tomorrow night at the Red Room Restaurant," Loki grinned. "Tallish, for you, dark hair with highlights,"

Tony gave a small smile. "Alright, thanks,"

**...SceneChange...**

"Did you do it?"

"I did, I was almost laughing my head off inside," Wanda exclaimed. "I was panicking inside though but," she shrugged.

Loki laughed. "Yes, this is going to be so fun to watch,"

Wanda slowed down. "Watch?"

Loki turned to her. "Yeah, that's the fun of it,"

"But we'll be invading their privacy,"

"What privacy? You really think the moment they see each other and realize what we've done, which will take seconds, they're both geniuses, I will be dead meat and so will you. They won't suddenly fall in love, but it'll boost it, that's the point," Loki explained. "Which is why you and I will be watching and having a good laugh,"

Wanda frowned, contemplating things for the 4th time that day. "Alright fine, but I'm gonna trust you to bring the popcorn,"

"And remember to not wear your fanciest thing, we might get stuck in odd spots," Loki grinned.

Wanda looked a bit concerned. "Alright matchmaker," she swayed. Then she thought something. "What about you? What happened with the whole 'which one did you have a crush on dilemma' thing? Which one was it?"

Loki chuckled. "I didn't have a crush on either. It was all part of my plan,"

"What?" Wanda stepped back in surprise.

"You think I'd be so careless as to tell Stephen so openly? To catch me? I'm smarter than that. Smart and arrogant are both common insults for the pair and I knew how Stephen talks while he realises something he doesn't yet fully understand. I know how insisted Tony is when he gets half the picture. I knew he would figure out it was a crush. I knew it would've made them work together more and it worked," Loki explained.

Wanda gaped at him in wonder. "And they call them a genius, I think you're the one who should get that title,"

"I work in quieter ways. Plus, I'm not arrogant," she shrugged, both breaking into laughter.

Once it died down, Wanda looked a bit serious again. "Wait, was me becoming your friend part of a plan so you'd actually have someone to convince Stephen without making them realize sooner or..."

Loki stared at her. "What? No, becoming friends with you wasn't part of the plan,"

"God, if you say falling in love you wasn't part of the plan and make an old cheesy movie reference I will kill you," Wanda playfully messed with her.

Loki looked at her all serious. "I'm serious Wanda, the plan was to get you to trust me and then betray you for the organization, but... falling in love with wasn't part of the- HEY ow! I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Loki fell off her chair as Wanda hit her with a pillow from the library's couch.

"This blind date better work Loki, or I'm gonna watch a murder tomorrow night,"

**I'm sorry for the late update, but I'm back! I hope! Haha...ha.**

**3 DJ**


	21. NINETEEN: A Blind Date

Loki grabbed his bag as he was about to leave his room but paused for a second as he glanced into the mirror. He sighed and patted down his jacket. He was wearing all black to minimize the chance of being spotted.

'It's not a date, calm down,' he assured himself again. 'We're spying on Stephen and Tony, they're the ones on a date,'

He shook his head and rushed out of his room as quietly as he could to not wake up his household. He snuck down the stairs and skipped all the creaky ones. As he was about to open the door he heard someone in the kitchen. He froze.

"Loki?" It was Thor. Loki mentally swore. "Where are you going? It is late,"

Loki slowly turned around. "I...need to meet some friends,"

Thor eyed him, slowly drinking from his glass. "Who exactly?"

"...Wanda," Loki hesitated.

Thor lowered his glass. "What are you going to do?"

Loki tried to think of lie then gave up. "We're going to spy on someone,"

Thor almost choked on his drink. "-Spy? On who?" He seemed disapproved.

Loki crossed his arms and smirked. "Stephen and Tony. We set up a blind date for them and we're interested to see what happens,"

Thor frowned. "...Alright," he groaned. "But I only won't tell on you if you tell me what happens," he grinned.

Loki was surprised at Thor cooperation. "Sure...I need to go," He spun around and opened the door. He waved goodbye to his brother and sprinted out towards the Red Room Restaurant.

**...SceneChange...**

Loki was crouching behind a bush in the gardens of the restaurant with a pair of binoculars.

"Hey," Wanda's voice whispered as she arrived, kneeling down beside him.

"You made it," Loki smiled, making space for her.

Wanda peered through the leaves of the bush. "Sorry I'm late, I had to sneak out. What's going on?"

"Well, Stephen just arrived, a few minutes early and is finding a seat," Loki answered, passing her the binoculars.

"Ooh this is so exciting, almost like a real mission," Wanda said ecstatically.

Loki grinned and gave her some cookies from a box. "Here, we'll get hungry and chips are too loud,"

**...SceneChange...**

Stephen sat down, still feeling uncomfortable and anxious. He liked knowing what was going to happen, who he was doing things with. He decided this blind date thing wasn't for him.

"Have you chosen what you want to order?" The waitress asked, approaching him with her notepad open.

"Um, no thanks, just some water thanks," Stephen replied, his eyes darting around trying to see if he could spot whoever he was supposed to meet.

He leaned on his hands on the table and waited as patiently as he could for this mystery date. His brain began trying to guess who she was again.

Was she from school? He went through the yearbook earlier and tried to find out who it was but couldn't find anyone who matched Wanda's description. Maybe it was one of her other friends. Would they be from here? Would they have an accent if they spoke English?

He glanced at his watch. She was late.

Stephen rubbed his face and groaned. The waitress arrived with the water and he began nervously sipping from it. He was halfway done the glass when he almost choked on it and sunk back into his seat closer to the window.

'Was that Tony Stark?' His mind raced. 'Why was he here?' Stephen ran scenarios through his head none which ended well. He slowly turned his head around the big leather seats and peeked at him.

It was most certainly Tony.

Stephen held his breath. He watched Tony go to the front desk and then began to walk inside. It was too late for Stephen to even turn his head and mind his own business. Tony had spotted him. Tony made his stupid excited face and waved at him as he walked towards him.

Stephen groaned internally and stared forward in a glare. "What are you doing here?" He asked in a salty voice.

"I may ask the same thing, Stephen Strange dating? That's a funny thought," Tony smirked, leaning on his table. "Which girl agreed to go out with you? Are you being stood up? If you are, sorry I can't help, I've never been stood up before,"

Stephen steadied his annoyed breath. "And you? How late are you on your date?"

"Ten minutes, as I do," Tony smirked proudly.

"And is she here? I think you're the one who's being stood up," Stephen grinned, looking around for some girl who would look like they would try and date Tony.

Tony looked around too and put a sour face on. "They might be late too,"

Stephen rolled his eyes. "Sure,"

Tony waved off that worry. "Anyway, what about you? Which girl is coming to meet the amazing Stephen Strange? Is she from school? Do I know her?"

"Why are you so interested?" Stephen sighed.

"Is she late?" Tony asked when he noticed Stephen glance at his watch again.

"No," Stephen lied.

"She is! Maybe we're both being stood up," Tony grinned.

Stephen rolled his eyes. "Whatever makes you feel better Stark,"

There was a moment before Tony crossed his arms and pondered for a bit. "Isn't it a bit weird we're both in the same restaurant? I mean, what made you choose this one for your date?"

"I didn't choose it, Wanda did," Stephen pursed his lips in tiredness.

"Wanda? Is she your date?" Tony exclaimed.

Stephen shot him a glare. "No, she set me up on a blind date idiot,"

Tony paused for a second and there were a few more moments of silence as he thought. Stephen stared forward at the empty leather seat in front of him. It wasn't empty for long as Tony slipped in. Stephen sat up straight and glared at him.

Tony grabbed the empty glass of water Stephen left in the middle of the table and began to fiddle with it. "Okay, here's the thing," Stephen eyed him. Tony looked at him sternly in the eye. "I was set up on a blind date too,"

Stephen faltered. "What? By who?"

"Loki,"

Stephen began tapping on the table, something he did when he was thinking, a thing Tony found annoying constantly in class. "Wanda and Loki have been hanging out a lot recently,"

"Do you think..?" Tony sighed.

Stephen looked around the restaurant with all the people there eating and minding their own business. "I mean, neither of our supposed dates are even here, and it's been fifteen minutes,"

Tony leaned back in his chair. "Dam it, I should've asked Loki for a description of my date, that way we could confirm we were set up for each other,"

Stephen flickered his gaze away from Tony. He tried to remember what Wanda told him. Smart. Carefree. Sarcastic. "Wanda gave me a description of mine," he stated.

Tony turned to him, almost knocking over the empty glass. "Really? Tell me it,"

Stephen hesitated but covered his face as he said it. "She said 'she' was supposed to be smart but carefree, sarcastic,"

"And?"

"I don't remember. She said that was your type too," Stephen sighed.

"My type?" Tony frowned. "Why would she say that?"

Stephen continued to groan internally. "Because she said if I declined she would ask you instead since, quote-unquote, we have the same type,"

Tony raised his eyebrow in amusement. "Wow, interesting persuasion technique,"

"What?"

"Well, I'm amusing you declined at first,"

Stephen shrugged. "Well yeah, I'm not too interested in dating,"

"Exactly, so she would've had to persuade you. And she did so by using your competitive side and your rivalry against me. Smart actually," Tony explained.

"I'm not competitive," Stephen scowled.

"Then why'd you agreed to go on this date?" Tony asked, balancing the empty glass upside down.

Stephen thought for a moment. "I- don't know. It doesn't matter," he hastily added.

Tony made his know-it-all face. "See, they played us, they wanted us to go on a date together," He stared at Stephen, waiting for a response.

"Why?" Stephen panicked and said. The mid-lit restaurant gave Tony's eyes a golden glint off his normal brown color.

Tony shrugged. "I don't know, maybe they thought we'd be a good couple or something, Loki and Wanda are a bit weird,"

Stephen crossed his arms on the table. "So what do we do now?"

The waitress came over. "Anything yet?"

"Um, yes, I'll have the Braised Leeks with Mozzarella and a Fried Egg," Tony answered before Stephen could say anything.

"Is that all?" The waitress continued as she wrote Tony's order down.

Tony glanced at Stephen, who looked at the untouched menu. Stephen swallowed. "Um, yes, that'll be all,"

The waitress walked off. Tony turned to Stephen. "Don't you think she's hot? I wonder how old she is, you think she'd date me?"

Stephen glared tiredly at him. "What are you doing?"

"Checking out the waitress," Tony tried to spy her through the kitchen doors as he tapped on the upside down glass.

Stephen bit his lip and grabbed the glass off him. "Stop that,"

"Stop tapping?" Tony frowned, turning to him. "You do it all the time,"

Stephen put the glass the normal way up. "I do not,"

"Yeah you do, whenever you think you tap on the table, it's so annoying. You do it in class all the time," Tony said.

Stephen paused. "Alright, maybe I do, but you do annoying stuff when you think,"

"Yeah like, what? Get the answer right?" Tony made a face at him.

Stephen reciprocated the face. "No, you...mutter when you think,"

"You're the one who does that!" Tony exclaimed. "You always mutter when you think,"

Stephen pupils flared. "You do it too you know,"

Tony pouted. "Fine, maybe I do, but you do it too plus the other thing,"

Stephen chewed on his bottom lip. "Anyway, back to the main point, what are you doing?"

Tony didn't answer, as the waitress headed back with Tony's meal and he thanked her instead. "Hmm?"

Stephen stared at him impatiently. "What are you doing?"

"Having dinner," Tony answered, pretending to be innocent.

Stephen's mouth twitched. "Tony, be serious for a second," he snatched Tony's fork.

"Hey!"

Stephen frowned seriously. "Tony, two of our friends ships us! They set us up on a blind date! Doesn't that bother you?"

"No?" Tony answered absentmindedly.

Stephen's mouth hovered opened. "Wha-t?"

Tony shrugged. "It doesn't bother me? I just want dinner,"

Stephen passed him back his fork slowly. "I don't get it,"

"Do you want dinner?"

"No, I'm not hungry,"

Tony tilted his head. "Then, you're good to go if you want, I don't care,"

Stephen leaned back a bit on his chair and rubbed his face in tiredness. "But I do care,"

"What? About me? Does Stephen have feelings? Emotions? What's this?" Tony joked, looking up at him.

Stephen glared at him. "I meant, I don't want to leave,"

"Why not?" Tony asked, covering his mouth. "I mean, Loki and Wanda are probably somewhere spying on us anyway, I've heard about Loki's blind date schemes,"

Stephen rolled his eyes. "I know, I've been at this school at the same time you have,"

"And yet you're lower than me," Tony smirked, eyeing him for another glare.

Stephen made a face. "You make another joke, I'll steal that fork again,"

"Are you really gonna make me starve?"

Stephen held out his hand threateningly. Tony shrunk back into his seat and ate his noodles. Stephen shook his head in enjoyment. "No, you need to eat to grow more,"

Tony gaped at him, pretending to be offended. "Are you calling me short?"

"You are short!" Stephen laughed, blocking a pea Tony flicked at him. "So you think Loki's watching us now?"

"Probably," Tony shrugged.

"And do you care?"

Tony shook his head. "Nah, I mean, what are they gonna see? Us making out?" He smirked.

"True," Stephen crossed his fingers and watched Tony eat. "You'd be too chicken to do so anyway," he added teasingly.

Tony looked up at him with noodles dangling out of his mouth. "Hey! I'd easily be able to, you'd be the one who'd be blushing and mumbling to the point you wouldn't be able to remember what the value of pie is,"

Stephen's eyes gleamed. "I would not, I would have to bend down so you even be able to reach my lips,"

"What is it with you attacking my height! Plus, making out ends up horizontal anyway, so height won't matter," Tony added.

"You have experience?"

"More than you'll ever get in your lifetime," Tony boasted.

Stephen smirked. "You're such a child,"

"Me? I'm older than you!" Tony exclaimed.

Stephen chuckled. "Whatever you wish. Hey, that 'hot' waitress is coming over,"

Tony sat up straight and tried to seem calm, which failed because he glanced at Stephen who raised his eyebrow and caused Tony to fall into a laughing fit.

"Do you two need anything?" she asked.

"Um, yes, can you help settle an argument? Who seems more mature, him or me?" Stephen asked.

The waitress glanced between them. Stephen was sitting up straight and Tony was trying to cover his face from laughter. "Um, I'd say you are at this current moment, but both of you seem like intelligent guys," she smiled and walked off.

"What'd you do that for?" Tony asked, calming down.

"So she'd see what an idiot you are," Stephen answered, passing him a napkin.

Tony picked up his fork again. "So you're taking out my potential dates so you'd have me to yourself? Jealous?"

Stephen coughed. "What? No,"

Tony shrugged. "I'm kidding,"

Stephen frowned at him. "Alright," he took out a notepad and pen from his jacket and scribbled something down in capitals.

"What's that?"

"A little note to our friends," Stephen showed Tony what he wrote before holding it up. 'WE KNOW YOUR PLAN AND IT WON'T WORK' Stephen held it up at the window and flashed it around. "Hopefully they get our message,"

**...SceneChange...**

Loki had his binoculars up and was eating some of the biscuits. "Tony just arrived,"

"Ooh, let me see," Wanda tried to take them off him.

"No, I'll just describe it for you," Loki moved to the side so she couldn't steal them. Wanda huffed in annoyment but sat down still nibbling the cookies. "Tony's walked over and is leaning on his table. I think they're bickering again,"

"Can you read lips?" Wanda asked.

"No..." Loki answered. "Hold on, Tony's sitting down opposite him, I think they're figuring out what's going on,"

"Are they angry?"

"At each other, I think," Loki shrugged. "No, now Tony's ordering,"

"They're really going to stay? I thought Stephen would walk right out of there the moment he saw Tony," Wanda joked.

Loki continued to look through the binoculars. "They're just talking, civilized," He lowered the binoculars. "This might actually work,"

Wanda took the binoculars. "Let me see," She watched them. "Huh," she also lowered the binoculars and picked up a biscuit. "This might actually be fun,"

"Alright, pass them back," Loki held out his hand.

"No, you won't give them back," Wanda looked through them again.

Loki frowned and took out his phone. "Alright," He held out his phone and zoomed up on camera mode and began taking photos.

Wanda peered at him through the binoculars. "Hm, I didn't think of that,"

"That's because you're not a genius," Loki shrugged and continued to take photos.

"Tony will check your phone after this you know," Wanda reminded.

"Yeah, I've learned my lesson. The moment I take these photos they're uploaded to the cloud, it's safe," Loki grinned.

"I'm sure Tony will find a way," Wanda said. "Look, Tony's laughing a lot, I wonder what happened.

Loki rolled his eyes and lowered his phone. "Stephen isn't that funny,"

"Shh," Wanda suddenly said, ducking down lower. Loki did the same. They both quietly peeked out of the bush and watched.

The restaurants garden was assessable by anyone who went into the restaurant for fresh air. It was a nice garden and Loki and Wanda had snuck in. Two people had walked out, female and male, one could only assume they were on a date. Loki analyzed them and concluded they were in their twenties

"What do we do?" Wanda asked.

"Shh," Loki shushed. "We wait,"

They silently waited behind the bush, their bodies found themselves pressed against each other in an attempt to minimize the space they took up. The couple walked and sat on a bench.

"Ew," Wanda stated as they were peering out of the bush. The couple began to make out.

Loki turned away. "Jeez, I'm not even going to look," He gave up using his muscles and lay down on the grass. Wanda frowned at him since she was now sitting over him.

They continued to quietly wait behind the bush. The couple continued to make out.

"If this goes to the next step, I will puke," Wanda shuddered.

Loki looked from underneath the bush to the window where they were spying Stephen and Tony through. Stephen was holding up a note. "Wanda, look at the window,"

Wanda tried to but couldn't properly see what the note said unless they had their binoculars which they couldn't get out unless they wanted to be seen by the couple. "I can't see what it says,"

"Can't you at least make out what it says," Loki groaned.

Wanda squinted to find out what it said. "Um, I Now Ban And I'll Make?"

"That's not it,"

"Well I don't have super sight, so suck it up," Wanda sighed, trying to get a closer look. Instead, her hand slipped on the grass and she fell onto Loki. "Ugh, whoops,"

Loki frowned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," She whispered, sitting back up. She paused for a moment, their faces oddly close. "Um,"

Loki's eyes widened. "Um,"

Wanda turned her head a bit to face where the couple was sitting. "They're gone,"

"Good," Loki shuffled a bit.

Wanda sat up properly and they began to breathe normally again. They paused for a moment before Wanda grabbed the binoculars and looked at the window again. "Dam it, the note's gone,"

Loki sighed. "Oh well, let's just keep watching,"

**...SceneChange...**

Stephen stared at Tony as he was explaining something about the theory of space. His mouth seemed to be moving without any words coming out, Stephen had muted them out as his thoughts overcame Tony's voice.

Tony was an arrogant womanizer. He was smart and stupid. Why was Stephen sitting here with him? If anyone from school saw them they'd get the wrong idea.

Stephen pretended to be interested in what Tony was saying. Was Tony so fast as to go on a date with someone he didn't know, was he that desperate? He'd been through so much in the recent weeks.

Stephen suddenly had a weird desire to touch him. Just his hand, or his scars. Stephen's vision blurred a bit as he focused on Tony's face. He always seemed so excited when he was explaining something he was interested in.

Tony always had expressions that reflected his emotions. It was one of the funniest things about him, whereas Stephen always had the same calm expression on. They weren't similar.

No matter what Wanda said, they weren't each other's type. She just said that to convince him to come here. His type wasn't Tony. He didn't even know what his type was. This was like his 3rd date ever in his life, he wasn't really interested in relationships. Hell, he hadn't even had his first kiss, and Tony here probably has had more kisses than B's.

Stephen continued to stare at Tony. Even though his eyes were on him, he didn't notice Tony had stopped talking.

"Stephen?" Tony's voice echoed into his mind as the mute was turned off.

"Yes?" Stephen answered, breaking out of his daze.

"Did you listen to anything I just said?" Tony asked.

Stephen froze. "Yes, of course," he lied.

Tony frowned, not believing him. "Sure," he crossed his arms and looked out the window.

Stephen sighed. "Fine, I wasn't listening because I was thinking," Tony didn't look at him. Stephen leaned forward. "I was thinking about you. You're very distracting, so if anything it was your fault I wasn't listening,"

Tony turned to him, raising his eyebrow in doubt. "My fault?" he smirked. "My looks too distracting?"

"Yes," Stephen found himself saying.

Tony paused and stared at him. "Oh," He leaned forward on the table. "Well, I don't blame you, half the girls in year seven got C's because of me,"

Stephen broke into a smile. "Is this fact or just something you tell yourself?"

"It's something I tell you to make me seem cooler," Tony joked.

Stephen's eyes flickered in the dimly lit room. "But I'm cooler than you,"

"Keep telling yourself that,"

**Get ready for Part 2 ah**

**3 DJ**

**Request what you want to happen :D**


	22. TWENTY: A Date

Loki and Wanda groaned simultaneously. Another couple had placed themselves in front of the window and they couldn't see the pair that they were spying on.

"Let's just go inside and spy on them," Loki said, stuffing their stuff into his bag. They sneakily crawled behind a different bush and managed to stand up onto the pathway and lined up to enter the restaurant.

"Can you see them from here?" Wanda asked, leaning forward to look around the line.

"I can now," Loki stepped forward as the line moved up a bit.

Wanda shuffled forward and spied on Tony and Stephen. "Ooh, Stephen isn't eating anything, we couldn't see that from inside,"

"And Tony's almost done eating, I wonder what they'll do,"

"Well Stephen's stayed here for this long, so at least they're tolerating each other," Wanda shrugged. "I see this as a win,"

The line moved up again and Loki and Wanda walked up. They were almost at the front.

Loki glanced back at Wanda, who was leaning on one foot to get a good look at the pair. He frowned as he stepped forward as the line was clearing up. Wanda was the first person to even help him with one of his schemes, let alone accompany him on the blind-date.

"Hey, I think they're moving Loki," Wanda whispered to him, breaking through his thoughts.

Loki frantically looked at where the pair was sitting. Tony was passing the waitress a check and the pair was standing up. "Uh,"

"What do we do, we're right at the exit they'll definitely recognize us," Wanda realized. She turned to Loki. "What do we do?"

"Uh, well,"

**...SceneChange...**

Tony was finishing with his meal as he scrapped the last of it off the plate. "Are you sure you're not hungry?"

"Nope, I'm sure," Stephen assured.

Tony called the waitress for the check. "Alright, that's up to you,"

Stephen bit his lip. "Tony,"

"Yes?" Tony looked up at him as he held the check and passed his credit card to the waitress to scan.

Stephen felt his face flush white, or red, he didn't know. "Um, I just wanted to say I had a fun evening, even if I wasn't expecting you to be here,"

Tony raised his eyebrow in amusement, receiving back his credit card and receipt. "Do want to have a funner evening?" He leaned forward in excitement.

Stephen stared at him in confusion. "It's 'more fun', not funner,"

"I know genius, come on," Tony stood up and beckoned him to follow him out of the restaurant. "I promise I won't kill you,"

Stephen sighed. "Alright, fine," He stood up and followed Tony out of the restaurant.

**...SceneChange...**

"What do we do?" Wanda hissed.

Loki's mind raced. "Um, kiss me,"

"What?"

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," Loki rambled, eying the pair as they got closer.

"Yes, they do," Wanda muttered, glancing quickly at Tony and Stephen.

Loki put his arm around Wanda's shoulder and gently pulled her towards him, aiming for her lips. Wanda stepped to the side to face her back to Tony and Stephen who passed them without a second glance.

"You still uncomfortable?" Loki grinned as they parted.

"That's not exactly the word I'd use," Wanda answered, little out of breath.

Loki grabbed her arm and helped her weave back through the line to follow Tony and Stephen. "What word would you use then?"

They got to the street and began to follow the pair at a reasonable distance. Wanda swung her bag over her shoulder. "I would use the word..." Wanda thought for a moment. The word she chose could make or break anything. "Enticing,"

Loki glanced at her, falling into thought. "I would use the word interesting," He turned away, hiding his grin.

Wanda stared forward, smiling, her face growing pink from either the moment of the brisk cold air of the night.

**...SceneChange...**

"So where are we going again?" Stephen asked, almost out of breath from trying to keep up with Tony, which was new.

Tony turned to him, with an excited grin. "Well, I've been working on something, and I've found a really cool way to show it to you,"

"Want to warn me?" Stephen nervously laughed, looking around him. They were in the city and the lights were shining around them.

"Alright, just around the corner," Tony led him.

They stopped at the plaza and Stephen looked around in awe. He paused as he stared at one particular building.

Stark Tower.

"Tony...?" Stephen asked, looking for him.

"Here," Tony stood in front of him. "Okay, so don't freak out,"

"Why would I freak out?" Stephen watched as metal began to crawl around Tony's body until his old gauntlets and boots began a full body armor. He gaped at him, ignoring the stares of the people around them. "That's- that's...nano-tech,"

Tony grinned. "Yup, cool right?"

Stephen ran his fingers through his hair. "You invented Nano-Tech. Do you know how difficult that is?"

Tony nodded ecstatically. "Okay, now come here,"

Stephen mindlessly stepped forward, inspecting the suit. "Woah!" He suddenly exclaimed as Tony grabbed him around the waist.

"Hold on," Tony whispered while his helmet covered his face. Stephen wrapped his arms around Tony's suit. He looked down at his feet as Tony's boosters began to flare and glow blue as Tony flew them into the air.

Stephen felt as they landed on something. Tony slowly let go of him, his suit deteriorating. "Careful," Stephen looked around.

They were on top of Stark Tower.

"Wow," Stephen muttered breathlessly.

"Sit," Tony sat down on the edge, dangling his legs over the edge of the skyscraper.

Stephen slowly did the same. Tony stared to the side, inspecting him. Stephen's muscles were shaking. "Scared? You know I can catch you if you fall, I can fly," Tony assured.

"No, I'm just cold," Stephen answered, unsure himself whether it was from the cold or fear. He stared out over the city. The night sky made the lights of the city glow brilliantly.

Tony continued to gaze at Stephen. His face was pale from the cold, but he had tinges of pink in his cheeks. His profile was rather alluring. Tony quickly averted his eyes when Stephen turned to face him.

"What are you doing?" Stephen asked, curiously.

"Nothing," Tony covered up, feeling his face heat up.

Stephen smirked. "Admiring my dashing looks? Finally, admit I'm better looking?"

"I don't have to admit anything, you just have to look at my many fangirls at school," Tony defended.

"Too bad I don't have my scarf here, or you'd be all over me," Stephen teased.

Tony took a breath. "You don't have to attack my one slip-up," he rolled his eyes. "Plus I don't need your scarf to want to be all over you-" He froze and held his breath. 'What did I just say?'

There was a moment of silence before Tony slowly turned his head to face Stephen. Stephen was staring at him, almost in a daze. "Stephen?" Tony whispered. "Did- did you hear what I said?"

Stephen's eyes flashed in the reflection of the city lights as he broke out of his trance. "Yeah,"

Tony slowed down his breaths. "Alright,"

The air was still for a moment.

The wind had stopped a bit so Stephen could hear Tony's breathing.

"Shush," Stephen automatically said.

Tony looked up at him. "Huh?"

"Stop making your breathing so loud, it's distracting,"

Tony scoffed. "My breathing? How do you propose to stop my breathing?"

Stephen faced him. "I guess I can try," he said as he found himself rather close to Tony's face.

Tony stared wide-eyed at him, not rejecting the motion. His eyes flickered down at Stephen lips, which lay only a few centimeters away from his. "Why are you so good at these pick-up lines," he whispered.

Stephen ignored his sudden need for air and edged closer, keeping his eyes on Tony's, whose eyes were on his lips. "Please shush, I need to think," Stephen muttered, their faces getting silently closer.

"HEY, this is a RESTRICTED area," yelled a deep voice.

Stephen and Tony bolted apart, Tony standing up hastily to face the security guard. "I'm Tony Stark, son of Howard Stark," he yelled back.

The guard swiped his card to open the doors to get to them. "I don't care, no one's allowed here," Tony turned to Stephen, flustered and worried.

Stephen took something out of his pocket. "It's my turn to show you something," He put the ring-type thing on his fingers and held up his palm and began to make circular motions with his other hand.

Golden sparks appeared and formed a portal. Tony didn't have time to be impressed, the guard came to them, but Stephen pulled Tony into the portal with him.

Tony and Stephen stumbled onto the road as the portal closed. "Woah," Tony gasped. "You can make portals?"

Stephen put the ring thing back in his pocket. "Yeah, I've been practicing but I'm not allowed to use them except in the Sanctum,"

Tony licked his dry lips. "Well, that was a close escape. Where are we anyway," Tony looked around. "Hold on," he walked to one of the houses. "Isn't this Bruce's house?"

Stephen put his hands in his pockets. "Um, yeah, you're staying here right?"

"Yeah," Tony answered, still breathless from the whole ordeal. He turned back to Stephen. "Back there-"

"Wasn't anything," Stephen turned his face away. "Um, I should go now," he stuttered.

Tony nodded, a bit too fast. "Yeah, yeah, it's late. Um, do you need to call a ride or,"

"Nah, I'll just break the rules one more time," Stephen held out the sling-ring. He did the motions again and the golden portal appeared in the middle of the road.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow then," Stephen waved goodbye before walking inside and the portal closed.

"Goodbye," Tony sighed, before walking back inside Bruce's house.

**...SceneChange...**

Loki and Wanda ran out onto the plaza as Tony flew Stephen up to the top of the tower.

"Wow, okay," Loki exclaimed.

"I guess we can't follow them unless you can fly," Wanda said breathlessly.

"No, I can't fly," Loki sighed. "But you can,"

Wanda looked amused. "I can't fly that's high or long yet, I'm still practicing,"

"Oh well, it was fun while it lasted," Loki shrugged, sitting on a bench on the plaza.

"What do you mean? Can't we wait for them to come down? They'll have to at some point,"

"I wish, but they'll probably stay there for a while, plus we don't know and it's probably unlikely they'll fly back down right here," Loki explained.

Wanda collapsed next to him on the bench. "Well this was fun, and tiring,"

Loki chuckled. "It can be like that. It was fun to do it with someone this time,"

Wanda glanced at him. "You used to do this by yourself?"

"I mean, once or twice has Natasha helped, but that was because we were following her boyfriend because we had evidence he was cheating on her, but that doesn't really count as I meant," Loki said, looking at the tiles on the ground.

Wanda adjusted her sitting position and stared forward. "Well," she paused before contemplating whether or not to say what she was going to. "We ended up here following a date, how- how about we just go on one ourselves,"

There was a moment before Loki responded. "Like, a date?"

"Yes, that's what I meant,"

"Like...romantically?"

Wanda bit her tongue. "Yeah. I mean, if you want to,"

Loki fiddle with the straps on his bag. "Um, okay, what about me...and me being...like not a people person,"

Wanda frowned. "What about it? I don't care, I think I can deal with it, plus, if we do date, we'd be a team, figure it out together, not alone," she assured.

Loki turned to her. "I guess you really liked that kiss huh," he joked.

Wanda grinned. "It was interesting,"

**...SceneChange...**

**Stephen's POV:**

I walk to class thinking. How do I act? How will he act?

I do not like him.

I glance at his empty seat. He was late again. I try to stop thinking about it. How close we were to it.

I do not like him.

I sit down in my seat pretending not to notice his absence. It is probably a good thing that he's not here because then I can concentrate on the problem at hand rather than wing it when he arrives.

I do not like him.

My thoughts are interrupted when he stumbles into the room, the door swinging open. His messy hair is damp from the sprinkling rain outside. His pale, white skin has a faint red flush. His brown eyes are full of amusement. They meet mine and I look down, embarrassed.

I do like him. And it sucks.

**Tony's POV:**

I am bored. Mr. Williams math class is always boring. Normally by now, I would've pointed out the seven mistakes he's made and then made a deal about it when Stephen stood up to argue back. But now Stephen was staring at the front, actually taking notes.

He wasn't even glancing at me. Did he forget about last night? I couldn't stop thinking about last night. What did it even mean? I had to ask him.

I glance at him instead. I intended just to see if he was actually writing class notes or if he was just drawing. But instead, my eyes are drawn to his lips. The annoying monotone voice of Mr. Williams is drowned out as I remember last night.

My stomach feels odd as my mind races to places I didn't know it could go until I realize we are still in math class and anyone could be watching us. I snap my head back to the front, embarrassed by my own thoughts. It was probably a good thing he wasn't looking at me, so he couldn't see me as a flustered mess.

**Third PV: Later, during recess.**

Tony, Steve, Wanda, and Clint were in the Science room. They had snuck inside to take a look at the new prototype training machine they were going to use in class the next week.

Tony was inspecting the machinery, while Steve and Clint were pretended to be fighting it. Wanda was amusingly taking photos.

Stephen knocked on the door and walked in. "Hey, what're you guys doing in teachers only room?"

"We're taking a look at the new training robot early," Wanda explained.

Stephen slowly sat down next to her. "So, ahem, about the blind date,"

"How did it go?" Wanda exclaimed innocently.

"Shush," Stephen eyed Tony, who was ignoring him or too interested in the robot to care. "It went fine, but, you guys were following us, right? Spying?"

Wanda sighed. "Maybe...but it was Loki's idea,"

"Knew it," Stephen sighed.

The emergency alarm interrupted everything. Everyone froze and looked at each other.

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL," The voice blared out. "THERE ARE MULTIPLE ACTIVE SHOOTERS ENTERING THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS. DO NOT ENGAGE. EVERYONE FIND A TEACHER OR EVACUATE IN GROUPS TO THE GYMS IN A CALM MANNER. DO NOT ENGAGE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL,"

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	23. TWENTY-ONE:

**TWENTY-ONE: You're More Annoying Than The Bullet In My Chest**

Loki wiped her hands on her skirt as she turned off the tap to the sink. She glanced up at the mirror before quickly looking at the door as it swung open.

Natasha entered, smiling at Loki as she did. "How are you doing?" She didn't enter a stall, instead just looked into the mirror and inspected her face.

Loki frowned. "I'm doing fine, but I can't say for whoever you beat up," she frowned into the mirror, also inspecting Natasha's face. She had a bruise forming on her cheek and a cut on her eyebrow that had dried blood on it.

Natasha sighed with a hint of amusement. "I caught some Hydra bullies on a group of Year 7's," she dabbed her eyebrow with a wet tissue. "They put up a fight,"

Loki smirked. "It's been a while since Hydra's been a pest, you think Fury did something about the USB?"

"Maybe, I guess we'll never know," Natasha shrugged. She paused as the alarm began to blare. Her muscles tensed and turned to Loki. "Was there a drill today?" Loki shook her head.

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL," The voice began, "THERE ARE MULTIPLE ACTIVE SHOOTERS ENTERING THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS. DO NOT ENGAGE. EVERYONE FIND A TEACHER OR EVACUATE IN GROUPS TO THE GYMS IN A CALM MANNER. DO NOT ENGAGE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL,"

Loki took a deep breath. "We should go," She walked to the door but paused before opening it.

"What is it?" Natasha asked, chucking the tissue into the bin. She walked over but Loki put her finger to her lips. Natasha quietened and put her ear near the door.

She heard footsteps and some faint buzzes of a radio. More importantly, she heard the clicks made from someone loading a gun. She held her breath. "I count at least three out there, all armed probably,"

Loki swallowed. "Okay,"

They both went silent as they heard someone speak through the radio. "There some kids on the fourth floor, I think we shot one but the rest got away," Natasha and Loki shared a worried glance.

A clearer voice responded. "What is your situation?"

"The team down there went silent after the kid was shot, we suspect an Enhanced took them out," the radio voice buzzed.

"Okay, head down there. If the kid's shot, he can't have gone far. We need to find that Power Ring before the police manages to get inside," The man was close to the bathroom door. "We'll stay here, in case any kids that run through here,"

The radio talked again. "I thought the boss said to not hurt the kids,"

"He said to have as fewer casualties as possible, but I guess sometimes it can't be helped,"

The voices stopped and the footsteps remained, the shooters just circling around.

"Right outside is a four-way hallway intersection, right in the way to the elevator or stairs to the lower levels," Natasha realized. "Any students trying to escape will probably take this way,"

"We need to take them down," Loki said, tying her hair up.

"Okay, a plan. There are at least three out there, but be prepared for more. Our best chance against those bullets is this doorway, so we have to lead them in here and take them out as they enter," Natasha evaluated.

Loki nodded. "Okay, plan. We make some noise in hear to draw them in. As the first guy's footsteps get close, you open the door from behind and I'll blast him back, drawing the attention of the rest. As they come, we barge out and then wing it. My shields can give us some protection,"

Natasha nodded. "Okay," she positioned herself on the wall behind the door, ready to open it.

Loki pursed her lips and stood in front of the door with her hands up. "I'll make some noise," She shot a blast at the metal bin, causing it to crash onto the wall and then fall with a clang onto the ground. Almost immediately they heard voices and footsteps to the door. "Now," Loki motioned to Natasha.

As the shooter was about to open the door, Natasha pulled the door open and Loki shot a green blast at him. It hit him on the chest, pushing him back into the wall behind him. They heard more steps and yells. Loki summoned a shield in front of her as two shooters came to the doorway, spraying them with bullets.

Once one round went, Natasha spun out from behind the door and kicked the closest guy in the chest, pushing back into the second guy. She disabled the first guy by banging his head into the wall and then grabbing his empty gun as she rushed outside into the open.

Meanwhile, Loki paced beside her with her shield out, protecting them from the new round of bullets being shot at them. "There are three in front of us," she notified Natasha, who was busy using the empty gun as a hand weapon to knock out the second guy.

"Fun," Natasha grinned, turning around to face them. Loki used her free hand to summon a knife and both of them ran forward. Natasha used the wall to push herself above one of the tall shooters and got close to him so he couldn't use his gun.

While she did that, Loki pushed her shield forward, sightly disturbing the other two shooters, distracting them for the second. She then used her knife to stab into the wall and use it to step up and jump onto one of the shooters and then use the wall close to her to kicked him back into the other guy, trying not to shoot his teammate.

"We got an Enhanced and Specialized on us," screamed one of the two guys still up into his radio. His voice was cut off with a yell when Natasha stepped her boot on his hand, letting go of the radio.

Loki placed her knife onto the other guy's neck to prevent him from moving before blasting him with an unconscious spell. "That wasn't too hard," She mentioned, as Natasha knocked the last shooter unconscious.

"We gotta go to the fourth floor and find whoever was shot," Natasha said, out of breath. "Come on," The two jogged towards to the stairwell, cautious at every corner in case of any shooters.

**...SceneChange...**

It only took a few seconds for them to react. "Not a drill? What does that mean?!" Clint exclaimed, standing on the chair he was resting his feet on.

"It means we need to go evacuate to the gyms," Steve rolled his eyes, grabbing his jacket. "We should go now, if there're multiple active shooters then we don't want to be in the crossfire,"

"Alright," Tony sighed, glancing at Stephen as he headed out behind Steve and Clint. Wanda opened her mouth to say something to Stephen but decided against it as they both followed them out.

"Do you think the others are okay?" Clint asked Steve, as he was checking the corners as they headed to the elevators. "Like what about Sam, or Loki? What about Nat?"

"I think Nat can handle herself," Steve sighed, motioning for them to walk past the corridor opening.

With Steve in front of the line, Tony made it behind Clint making sure Wanda was behind him so he could stay the furthest from Stephen. He would talk to him but not now, not when they were avoiding people with guns.

"We're almost at the elevator," Steve stated, even though everyone already knew that since they walked through these corridors every day. They began to fill into the elevator, which was in front of another corridor opening.

As Wanda crossed the opening she sprinted inside, her face pale. "There are three of them at the end of the corridor," she gasped.

Stephen was about to enter the elevator, walking in front of the corridor opening where Tony saw the shooters in the reflection of the mirrored elevator. Tony's eyes glanced at the panel where the 'door closing' light was flashing.

Everything after that happened in a flash, a blur. The moment after Wanda said what she did, when the elevator let out 'bing' to notify it was going to close, everyone realized what was going to happen but no one was able to react fast enough. Except for Tony.

Tony managed to slip through the closing doors and push Stephen back behind the safety of the wall as a series of yells and gunshots from the team of shooters that were spotted. Muffled yells from inside the elevator were also heard but disappeared as the elevator when to the lower level.

Once Stephen stumbled back and heard the gunshots, he realized what had happened. And then he realized what had also happened. Tony. Tony had pushed him out of the way of the bullets.

Stephen looked forward, he watched as Tony fell onto the ground and his blood instantly began to stain the white floor. Stephen's hands automatically began to conjure up a shield as he stepped forward and blocked any more bullets that decided to be shot at his appearance.

"Tony," Stephen hissed as he knelt down, shaking his shoulder. He didn't reply, but he was conscious. Tony coughed in response, blood beginning to drip from his mouth. Stephen steadied his shaking breaths and looked up behind him, where the guns were shooting from. Bullets bounced off his shield.

He couldn't help Tony unless they stopped shooting at him. Stephen took a deep as he stood up and did a motion with his free hand. He walked forward, letting the energy rush through him as he gripped the weapon in his hand.

There were four men shooting at him. He made sure the shield was still blocking when he used the weapons to stun one of them, distracting one of the others. He used some combats skilled he learns and soon they were disarmed.

He took down his shield and summoned another weapon in seconds, knocking them unconscious. The last one standing grabbed a gun on the ground, but Stephen sliced it in half before hitting the hilt on his forehead.

Stephen was gasping almost uncontrollably, as he paused for a moment, staring at the bodies around him. He then sprinted to Tony. He had his eyes closed.

"Tony," Stephen tried to wake him up. To his relief, his eyes blinked open. "Tony," he repeated with a hint of ease than before. He looked around. They were too in the open here. "Tony, I need you to gather all your energy and help me move you to the classroom right here,"

Tony nodded in reply. Stephen put his arm under Tony's and lifted him up a bit. Both of them, after a while, collapsed in exhaustion behind a table in the History classroom.

**(A/N I can't be bothered to research how to not die when shot, or like, how long it takes to die because I have a lot of homework and it's a miracle I've even written this now, but I'll try an make it as realistic as possible based my already extensive knowledge on Not Dying,)**

Tony kept falling in and out of consciousness. Stephen propped his head up a bit and made he could breathe.

Stephen inspected his body. Tony's clothes were soaked in blood. Most of the bullets hit his torso. After a bit of touching, Stephen counted four wounds. Stephen took a deep breath.

One bullet was in his thigh. Another was on the other side, which Stephen realized must've bruised the bottom rib and maybe hit the bottom of the lung. The third was in his shoulder and the fourth was just under the split of the rib cage. It can't have hit the spinal cord since Tony could still walk as they did here.

"Okay, Tony, can you breath," Stephen asked, trying to put pressure on all four wounds, which wasn't working.

"Hurts," Tony managed to say in between gasps. "It's hard,"

Stephen pursed his lips. "Okay, it might've hit your lung, but I- I can't be sure," He got some books of the shelf to put on the less bleeding wound to help put pressure. "Um, okay," He put his hand on Tony's wrist, feeling his pulse. There wasn't any.

Stephen glanced at his face. Tony was still conscious, his chest heaving under the pain of breathing, but his eyes were closing and opening too often. He could tell Tony was trying to not fall unconscious.

Stephen shuffled closer to his face and checked his pulse on his neck. It was there, but faint. "Your- your heartbeat is weak," he stuttered. "You've lost too much blood, and I think one of the bullets skimmed an artery,"

Tony didn't answer. Stephen's mind raced, trying to think of what to do. He kept staring at the blood, at his hands which were deeply stained with Tony's blood. He glanced at Tony's face. His lips were going blue and his skin was pale.

Stephen put his hand back to feel his pulse. It felt calming, even though he was dying. Stephen closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His hand on his chest, putting pressure on the worst wound, stopped feeling the elevation Tony's chest should be doing when he was breathing.

Stephen opened his eyes again. Tony's were closed. Stephen began to panic. He placed his hand in front of Tony's mouth but didn't feel any air being breathed out. He had only last try at saving him.

Stephen let out one last breath before taking another and then put his lips on Tony's, closing Tony's nose at the same time.

2 slow breaths. 30 compressions. Each minute. The algorithm repeated in Stephen's head as he slowly breathed into Tony's. When he parted from him, he quickly checked his pulse. Nothing.

No time to panic. Stephen hesitated to stop putting pressure on the main wound but knew this was more important. He began to do thirty compressions on Tony's chest.

Around ten minutes passed and Stephen was feeling breathless and really tired. The bottom of his palm was bruised from scrapping the edge of the Arc Reactor each time he did a compression.

As he went through the rounds, he did some thinking. There was no way Tony could've lived this long after losing so much blood. Stephen calculated he lost at least four, maybe five pints of blood**(A/N the average human has about 10).** That was a lot.

Stephen realized his Arc Reactor must've helped continue to pump his heart.

Even if he survived, he might go into a coma. Stephen stopped thinking. At this point, he wanted to lie down and rest too. His head felt light and a bit dizzy. But he had to keep going.

The minute passed and Stephen took a deep breath before placing his lips back onto Tony's. This was not how he imagined their first kiss.

**...SceneChange...**

Thor was grinning as he filmed Sam kept stopped the flow to the drink taps in the hallway of the third floor.

"Stop it!" Bucky exclaimed, slapping away Sam's hand.

"Why?" Sam taunted teasingly, reaching his hand out again but this time Bucky put his finger half on the opening, causing a spray of water to go onto Sam. "Hey!"

"That's why," Bucky huffed, bending down again to take a drink. Sam wiped his wet arms on his shirt. He was about to say something in defense but the alarm began to play out on the speakers.

Thor lowered his phone and stared at the other two in shared confusion. "THIS IS NOT A DRILL," The speakers were saying, "THERE ARE MULTIPLE ACTIVE SHOOTERS ENTERING THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS. DO NOT ENGAGE. EVERYONE FIND A TEACHER OR EVACUATE IN GROUPS TO THE GYMS IN A CALM MANNER. DO NOT ENGAGE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL,"

"Okay..." Sam frowned.

"We should go," Bucky urged, wiping his mouth with his jacket sleeve.

"You're right, let's go," Thor agreed. "Come on," they began to make their way to the elevator stairway.

Once they were almost there Bucky stopped them. "Shush, you hear that?"

"Your voice?" Sam said.

"No, shush, the elevators coming down," Bucky answered his own question.

"The elevator's right next to the stairs," Thor stated.

"You think it might be the shooters?" Sam realized.

"Maybe," Bucky said, as the three hid flat on the wall next to the elevator. "Okay, on three, we jump out and take out their guns,"

"Alright,"

The elevator stopped and the doors 'dinged' as they opened. Before anyone could say anything, Sam, Bucky, and Thor jumped in front of the elevator and began to attack them.

"Argh, stop it! It's us!" Steve's voice yelled in the mess. The three stopped punching.

"Oh," Thor paused. They let them get out of the elevator.

Clint rubbed his cheek. "Ow, you pack a hard punch," he told Sam.

"What happened to you guys?" Bucky asked Steve. "Why didn't you guys just go down all the way to the first floor?"

"Tony got shot," Wanda explained. "We got stuck in the elevator so we got off as soon as possible to go back up,"

"Tony got shot?" Bucky exclaimed. "Who's with him?"

"Stephen,"

"We have to go help them then-" Sam began, but he was cut off when multiple gunshots rang out and Wanda summoned shield on reflex and half of them had their fists out.

"Who's that..." Clint's voice trailed off as he heard a series of punches and bangs followed the gunshots.

"Come on," Steve and the rest quietly went to where they heard the fighting. "Ready, set, now!"

The group jumped out, only to find Natasha and Loki giving the last punch, in Loki's case, the last stab, making the last two standing fall to the ground.

"Natasha?"

"Loki?"

The group rushed forward to them. "Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"We're fine, what about you guys?" Natasha asked, looking at them.

"We're headed back up to the fourth floor," Steve answered.

"So are we, we heard that someone got shot on one of their radios," Loki frowned.

"That was Tony," Wanda informed them.

"What?" Natasha exclaimed. "Let's go then-"

"Maybe not all of us," Steve stopped her.

"What do you mean? Safety in numbers," Natasha said, anxious to get up the stairs.

"Well, he got shot multiple times I'd bet. It's better if we split up and the other group goes down to the Gyms and actually tell someone about it so they can get the ambulance," Steve explained.

"Why- why don't we just do that now?" Bucky frowned.

"We tried in the elevator but I think the shooters disabled all transmissions so we can't. Fury's probably got the emergency generator on in the gym, so we need to go there first," Clint replied glumly.

"Couldn't we bypass it? Hack it?" Thor asked.

"Tony could, but none of us have that skill," Wanda sighed.

"Then we split up," Natasha sighed. "I'll go up, who's with me,"

Steve turned to them. "Okay, Clint, Sam, and Thor, you go up. The rest go will come with me,"

"Alright," everyone agreed.

"Good luck, and stay safe,"

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	24. TWENTY-TWO: Avengers Assemble

Natasha, Clint, Sam, and Thor jogged silently down the hallway towards the stairwell. They figured it was better than taking the elevator.

"Shush," Natasha hushed as they waited behind the door in the stairwell to the fourth floor. She put her eye to the door. "I hear footsteps. They must be monitoring since they found out that Stephen took out their friends,"

"Look," Thor whispered. They all peeked through the little window in the door. A small group of students, perhaps in their second year, appeared around the corner heading to the elevator, which was right next to the stairwell door.

Almost immediately, Sam noticed from the side another group of shooters heading the same way from another corridor. In seconds they would spot each other. Sam pointed it out. "Guys,"

As the shooters were about to turn the corner, Clint burst the door open, startling them and the group of students. Thor and Sam threw themselves onto the three shooters that were there.

"We don't have time for this!" Natasha exclaimed, gesturing at the students to go to the stairwell around the fight.

"You and Clint go, we'll handle these guys," Sam insisted.

Natasha nodded and ran off, Clint following.

"Where'd you lose them?" Natasha puffed, pausing at an intersection in the hallways.

"Around here, right at the south elevator," Clint looked around. He faltered. "Here,"

Natasha walked to him and her eyes widened at the sight. The floor had puddles of blood and gunshot holes in the wall behind it. "Come on," Natasha hesitantly began to follow the trail of blood that was made.

Clint swallowed, glancing at Natasha. She had a worried face, one Clint had rarely ever seen. He took a look behind him, where a group of shooters lay unconscious. He quickly sprinted to them and took off a shotgun from one of them and then took off after her.

"In the History room," Natasha pointed, looking back at him. She noticed the gun in his hands. "Where'd you get that?"

"From one of the shooters, we'll need something to defend ourselves with if we're going to help them," Clint answered, walking up to her.

Natasha nodded and entered the classroom. "Tony? Stephe- holy-" She rushed to them at the back of the class. "Are you-?" she knelt beside them. She glanced horrified at Tony's still body.

"He's still alive," Stephen said in between a gasp and a cough. "Barely,"

Natasha stared at him. "You-you're so pale," he didn't answer, instead began mouth-to-mouth again. "You're going to exhaust yourself," She looked back at Clint. He had the gun gripped in his hands, waiting at the door watching guard.

"How can I help?" Natasha exclaimed, once Stephen began the compressions again.

Stephen looked around with heavy breaths. "Um, get the first aid kit, it should be in the corridor,"

Natasha nodded and got up, rushing past Clint. she grabbed the first aid kit on the wall just outside and hurried back inside. "Now what?"

"Tie it just above his wound on his leg, then um, put pressure on his rib and middle ones, they're the worst," Stephen explained, as Natasha opened the kit and took out some bandages.

Once she messily did the wrapping, she lifted her bloody hands to put pressure on the two wounds. "What about the other one," she noticed the wound on the shoulder.

"We- I can't do anything about it," Stephen quickly placed the books that had fallen off onto Tony's shoulder before beginning mouth-to-mouth again.

"How- how has he survived this long?" Natasha asked, breathing heavily.

"I don't know, but I almost lost him before. I think his arc-reactor helped-" Stephen was cut off by the sound of more bullets.

Natasha spun her head back at Clint. The tinted windows running alongside the classroom and the hallway shattered, the sharps flying into the classroom. Clint was ducking behind the door and shooting out to them. "You got this?" Natasha yelled back at him, ignoring the taste of blood in her mouth from a piece of glass that had cut her cheek.

"Yes!" Clint yelled behind the blast fire. "There are only two," There were a few more moments of the loud sounds before it quietened. "All done,"

**...SceneChange...**

The group burst into the gym. Steve caught sight of the generator and Maria Hill by it and immediately ran to her, the rest following behind him.

"Ms Hill, Tony's been shot we need an ambulance to get him," Steve exclaimed, out of breath.

Maria looked at him with a hint of worry but she shook her head. "We've already contacted the ambulance, along with the police force. We've already had other casualties," she said.

"He's dying," Wanda said, exasperated.

Maria opened her mouth but then closed it. "I can't do anything about it. They've already arrived, but they can't enter the building until the Police handle the hostage situation,"

"Hostage?" Everyone turned to face Bruce, who had gotten to the gym earlier. "I didn't know this was now a hostage situation,"

Maria pursed her lips. "It wasn't. Once the police arrived, some of the shooters got some hostages, some first years and demanded to let them finish their search or else they won't show any mercy,"

Steve stared, hopelessly. "So the ambulances can't get in because of the hostage situation? Not even through any of the other exits?"

"No, they've got all the ground exits to that main building guarded and will notify to hostage keepers of any intrusions," Maria answered.

"Can't we do anything about it?" Bucky asked, realizing they couldn't do anything but wait.

"I'm sorry," Maria turned away, taking a call.

The group glumly walked over to an empty spot in the bleachers. Loki waited a bit near Maria to overhear the call.

"Yes," she said quietly into her phone. "No, we've gotten most of them out, and cameras say no students aren't in the building anymore except the fourth-floor cameras were taken out," Loki held her breath. "No, we've got a wounded student in there, so they must be on the fourth-floor. the hostage situation isn't dealt with yet, and probably won't be for another hour,"

Loki hopped back to the group. "Except for Nat, Clint, Thor, Sam, Tony, and Stephen, there are no students left in there,"

"And? We can't do anything about it," Wanda sighed.

"I just overheard Maria's call, she said they won't be able to fix the hostage situation for at least another hour, Tony won't be able to survive that long," Loki added.

Steve put his head in his hands. "I can't just sit here and wait, it's useless and stupid,"

There was some silence before Bruce spoke up. "Well, I don't like the idea of our friends being stuck in there with a bunch of weirdo's with guns who are looking for something so important they have to shoot kids," He looked up at all of them. Like the rest of the group, he had fear and worry in his eyes. "I'm going to do something about it, and I have half a plan,"

Steve looked up at him. "Well, tell us, so we can finish it,"

Bruce took a hesitant breath before speaking. "Well, we have guys inside, and we have no idea who is able to fight or not. No one can get in, but what if we get them, even just a pair of them, to take out some of the shooters stationed at a back exit, then we can get a team of Police inside to take care of the other shooters,"

"But how can we talk to the guys inside?" Wanda asked.

"Well, when you guys were taking so long to get in here, I was trying to figure out a way to bypass the system. I know it isn't my field, but you pick up a thing or two when Tony's your friend," Bruce held up his phone. "My phone is busted, I dropped it while evacuating. But I used it as a signal device and to hack into the shooter's system,"

"So you're saying we can call them?" Bucky simplified.

Bruce nodded. "Yes. I can activate it, and communications will be on again but for only ten minutes. As a bonus, it will cut the lights in here for eight minutes which can act as a distraction for anything we might need,"

"Like bulletproof vests and weapons," Steve thought out loud.

Bruce frowned at him. "What? My plan doesn't involve us,"

"But it can. We can be stationed to attack the hostage holders from outside the building, take them out," Steve explained.

"That's dangerous. If we're caught, we can endanger the lives of all the hostages," Bruce argued.

"And? If we tell the others to take out a team from the inside, something can easily go wrong and the shooters could notify the hostage's holders and the negotiation could take longer," Loki defended Steve.

Bruce sighed and thought for a moment. "I don't know, I..." he looked around. "Alright, fine, but you better have a perfect plan to take out the hostages,"

Loki stepped forward. "Okay, well we can steal the x-ray sheet from the equipment room in here and see who's in charge. I can illusion myself to look like a shooter and lead most of them away and make sure none of them hurt the hostages,"

Steve lightened up. "You can secretly help them get free of any cuffs of bondages, they're first years, we learn how to escape bondage then,"

"Meanwhile, some of us can get inside and get them out with Icers," (A/N Icers: guns with neuro-toxin bullets and stun enemies instead of kill, for you non-Agents Of Shield people.) Bruce nodded, following the plan.

"As long as Loki's in there she can make sure no one shoots the hostages," Bucky finalized.

"It's a plan," Wanda smiled.

"Okay, Loki, you stay here with Bruce and call one of them and Bucky, Wanda, and I will go into the equipment rooms and get what we need," Steve began, standing up.

"Alright," Bruce sat down next to Loki. "The moment those lights go out, you have eight minutes," Steve nodded.

Loki took out her phone to get ready. Bruce turned his phone on and counted down to activate the system. "Three...two...one!" He pressed the button and the gym went dark. He could hear the soft footsteps leave them before they were drowned out by the talking and voices of the surprised people in the gym. "Alright, Loki,"

Loki turned on her phone and quickly scrolled down her contacts. "I'll try Clint," she pressed his contact and they let it ring out. "He didn't answer," Loki frowned.

"Don't try again, call someone else, Thor maybe," Bruce suggested.

"Thor keeps his phone on silent, I won't take the chance we don't have time. I call Sam," Loki pressed his contact. The phone rang before a beep went on, telling them he answered.

"Sam, this is Bruce," Bruce began quickly.

"Hey Bruce, how're handling the shooter's situation?" Sam's voice buzzed on.

"Listen, Sam, this is important and we only have five minutes to explain," Bruce pressed. He quickly explained the situation and the plan. "We need you to get the others and take down one of the exits at the back, away from the entrance to let some police in while we take care of the hostage situation,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, the plan is already in action," Bruce replied. "The phone's going to cut off,"

"Okay, I'll tell the others-" Sam's voice glitched as Bruce's hack ended.

Loki put her phone away. "I'll catch up with Steve and the others," she nodded to the back door which they went out of in the dark. "Stay safe," she quickly added before sprinting to the exit, behind the groups of other students. Loki left the gym and found the others behind some bushes putting on their bulletproof vests. "Okay, all done,"

Steve looked up at her. "Okay, here is a bulletproof vest, a small pocket knife to hand to the hostages and an Icer," he passed her the items. Loki nodded and strapped into the vest, pocketing the knife and the Icer. Steve looked up at his team. "Alright, let's go,"

The small team made up of Steve, Bucky, Wanda, and Loki headed silently behind the bushes on the side of the building, right near the main entrance. They were fully covered by the fence that was made of bushes that covered the school gardens.

"Okay," Wanda put up the x-ray sheet (A/N Once again for you non-Agent Of Shield people, S1: E7 "The Hub", when Fitz and Ward are on a mission,) onto the wall. The simple clear plastic-like sheet attached itself, and when Wanda activated it, everyone could see who was inside, and exactly where they were. "That guy, he must be the leader, he doesn't have a helmet on, stupid guy,"

"Well, it's our best bet. Loki, when you go in there, we'll see who speaks to you and that'll be definitely the leader," Steve nodded. "Everyone else, we'll wait till Loki's signal,"

"I'm going to go in," Loki said, nodding goodbye to them before she jogged off to the exit that Sam was supposed to disable.

Loki took a deep breath as she approached the corner. On the other side was the door, and if everything was to plan, Police, not the shooters would be station there. She closed her eyes and muttered some words as an illusion shimmered over her.

Now, she was a taller police officer. She swallowed before walking around the corner, her hand ready to summon a weapon in case it wasn't the police there.

There were police. Loki let out an internal sigh of relief. She stood up straight. "Where have the others gone?" She asked the couple officers that were there.

"Gone further inside to scout and observe some of the other shooters in there," replied the closest one.

"Excellent, I have been asked to join them," Loki nodded at them, beginning to walk past then.

"Isn't it best to be accompanied by someone," one of the others spoke up.

Loki paused. "I've been in these situations before. I can handle it," She didn't turn back to them, she just continued to walk on.

No one questioned. Loki blinked. "Sam must've done it," she muttered to herself. She then hid behind a wall that went on to the main entrance and closed her eyes again. Her police disguise changed to one of the shooters.

She quickly illusioned her Icer into a normal shotgun and the pocket knife invisible. Then, Loki walked around the corner with confidence.

Soon she was faced with a group of 6 shooters minus the supposed leader. Her eyes flickered to the hostages, four of them, tied up on the floor against the reception table. She continued to walk till her back was slightly turned to them It took her a moment to find her words. "We have found a small group of kids, one of them was the one we shot earlier. His friends are putting up a fight if we want to secure them back up is advised,"

The leader turned to her. "Are you saying a group of kids are beating your trained asses?!"

"Um, yes sir," Loki scrambled for an answer. "Some are Enhanced,"

The leader sighed. "Alright, you three, head up there,"

As Loki watched them leave, she quickly passed the pocket knife to one of the tied-up hands. She kept an illusion of herself still standing so the leader wouldn't see them.

"What about you?" The leader frowned. "Go with them,"

Loki glanced at the wall where the x-ray sheet was. "I'm afraid not," she held up her hand, signalling her friends.

"What?"

In seconds, Loki blaster her Icer at the three remaining shooters before anyone could react while the glass glowed red before shattering, the others appearing at the entrance, training their Icers at the leader.

The leader looked around. "I have teams in your building, you'll never-" his voice was cut off as the blast of the Icer drowned it out. He collapsed onto the ground.

Loki's illusion disappeared and she turned to her team with a smile.

"Hands up, all of you," The police surrounded them, their real guns pointed at them. Loki groaned, lifting up her arms. Steve and the others did the same.

"There's no time for this, we're Student of Shield, and one of our friends is bleeding out on the fourth floor," Wanda exclaimed at them.

Sam and Thor then suddenly burst into the room. "We heard Icers," Sam began but stopped as he too put his hands up when some of the police put their guns on him.

"They're in the History classroom on the fourth floor, we can lead you there," Thor insisted.

"He's dying, he's already lost a lot of blood. Four bullet wounds," Sam added.

Before the police responded, Fury's voice came from behind them. "It's alright officers, they're students here, go catch the real bad guys, there is still some inside. Hill is already leading an ambulance team up to the fourth floor,"

The police lowered their guns and began talking into their radios, heading inside to get the rest of the shooters. Fury turned to the group. "Whose idea was this?"

Steve was about to answer but Bucky stepped in. "It was all of our ideas. Including Bruce's mind you. We thought it would be best since Tony was dying and he needed attention fast. He wasn't going to get that with the negotiations,"

Fury stared at all of them. No one spoke. Fury sighed. "Alright, all of you. It was a good job, it'll count as good marks on your report...but it was still dangerously arrogant," He turned around to leave, but before he did add one last thing. "Tony will be alright now. Go home, I've already sent the other students home. Clean up and rest,"

Steve turned to the others. "I'd say that was a success,"

**...SceneChange...**

Natasha had to move onto Stephen's side so he wouldn't collapse on her. His rotations slowed down a bit since Tony showed some signs of blood flow again. Clint had to take down three other shooters until he almost shot Maria Hill.

"Guys, the- Ms Hill's here, with the ambulance!" Clint called, running to them. "You guys okay?"

"I think Stephen's about to pass out," Natasha answered, looking out of the broken windows. She saw the faces of the ambulance people. When they entered, they were asked to move away. Natasha helped Stephen stand up and sit on a chair nearby.

Voices and machine whirling blurred into one continuous ringing noise in both their ears. There were at least five paramedics around Tony.

Maria walked to them. "It's okay now, you can go clean up and go home,"

Natasha slowly stood up, her muscles already beginning to feel sore. She helped Stephen get up and the three of them walked out of the room and towards the closest bathroom. They ignored the 'boy' 'girl' bathroom rules and Natasha followed Clint into the male bathroom.

Clint didn't have much blood on him, but Natasha had to rub hard on her arms to get both the dry and fresh blood of her forearms.

Stephen just stared into the mirror, his pale face already gaining colour back. He was still breathing heavily, and his head still felt light.

"Stephen, dude, you need to clean up," Clint sighed. "I don't think it's best to walk out of there covered in blood,"

"It's hard to get it off anyway," Natasha gave up, chucking the ripped up paper towel into the bin.

Stephen shook his head and looked down. "He was without attention for around half an hour. Brain damage can occur if it's longer than twenty minutes,"

There was some silence before Natasha spoke. "He'll...be fine. If you have proper post-resuscitation care and good CPR, it can be avoided,"

Stephen washed the fresher blood off easier and didn't even try with the dried blood. "I guess. He saved me. This-this is my fault-"

"No, it's not Stephen," Clint began. "You're going to blame yourself for everything. Everyone's going to blame themselves. The fault is to those blasted shooters. Whatever they're looking for, they didn't find it,"

"And you saved him too Stephen," Natasha added. "We're not going to get this blood off unless we have proper cleaning stuff," Natasha shook her hands. "Come on, let's see if the others are alright,"

**...SceneChange...**

When the three of them emerged to the garden it was a sight. Clint had to give in the gun he took. Natasha had blood halfway up her forearm, Stephen had blood on his knees, shirt and even further up his arm.

As the group, who hadn't yet left, saw them, they stood up in relief. Clint, Natasha, and Stephen had to weave through the crowd of students, police, ambulances and police cars to get to them.

"Are you alright?" Steve asked.

"As good as can be," Natasha fumed, holding up her bloody hands.

"We saw them take Tony out to the hospital," Bucky said.

"I overheard Ms Hill on her phone again," Loki began. "She said he'll probably go into a coma, but not permanent they said,"

There was some silence before Stephen passed out from exhaustion and shock.


	25. TWENTY-THREE:PartOfTheJourneyIsTheEnd

It had been a few days that Tony had been unconscious and he had woken up the previous day. Bruce was waiting outside of the hospital room, waiting for Happy to deal with the pickup arrangements with the nurses.

Even though Tony had just woken up, he requested to leave as soon as possible. Howard was conveniently at a conference so he arranged Happy to pick him up, and Bruce decided to tag along.

"Alright, you can go in now," The nurse told Bruce.

"Tell him to take his time, he still needs time to heal," Happy also told Bruce. "I'll be waiting in the car,"

Bruce nodded and entered the hospital room. "Hey, Tony,"

Tony was standing on the side of the bed. "Bruce, hi," He was slightly tangled in his breathing tubes. "Um, can you help?"

"Sure," Bruce hurried over, helping him get his arms through the breathing tubes. "What happened?"

"Getting a jacket on with this thing is impossible," Tony sighed. "Anyway, you tell me what happened, the nurse only would tell me I got shot four times. And all I remember is getting shot, and like, flashed of Stephen,"

Bruce grinned. "Well, apparently you guys didn't see a group of shooters enter a corridor and Stephen was about to get shot. Just as the elevator you guys were in was about to close, you jumped through, taking the bullets for Stephen. Do you at least remember that?"

"Yeah, it's a bit blurry," Tony muttered.

Bruce shrugged. "Yeah, well, then apparently Stephen took out the shooters and took you to the History room to help you stay alive until the ambulance arrived,"

"Don't tell me someone kissed me," Tony groaned.

"He did CPR. He saved your life, Tony. He did it for a whole half an hour, he was so worried you'd get brain damage," Bruce said.

"Yeah," Tony ran his fingers through his hair. "The nurses said I had minor brain damage, but not permanent, so,"

Bruce walked closer to Tony. "He passed out after the ambulance came, he'll be relieved to hear you'll be okay,"

Tony let out a sigh. "And what, miss a chance to be smarter than me?" he had an internal smile.

Bruce looked around the room. "All packed? Happy's waiting outside,"

"There's nothing to pack. I'm ready though," Tony picked up the handle of the oxygen tank he had to carry around for the next few days.

"You still need that?"

"Yeah. One of the bullets grazed the bottom of my lung, so it still hurts a bit to breathe. This makes it easier," Tony explained. He opened the door. "Let's go,"

**...SceneChange...**

Bruce and Tony sat down in the car as it began to make the journey back home.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to him?" Bruce asked.

Tony glared at the non-sound proof glass between them and the front seats. He pressed a button, making them sound-proof. "Yes,"

"You can't avoid him all holidays," Bruce reminded him.

Tony nodded. "Yes, I can. I'm heading to-"

Bruce connected the dots before Tony finished. "Senior Tech Camp. They asked you again?" Each semester's holidays had a Seniors Tech Camp, that only smart students the school chose could attend for the entirety of the holidays. Even though Tony wasn't yet a senior, he was still asked because of his high IQ.

"Yes, and this time I can actually go since Fury gave us an extra week off school," Tony explained. The seniors holidays ended three days earlier than those of anyone else at school, so the camp began then. Howard didn't let Tony miss a single day of school, so he could never go.

Bruce hesitated. "But you haven't fully recovered. The hospital said to relax,"

"And? I'm fine. I feel fine. They wouldn't have released me if I wasn't,"

"So? You're not the best at keeping track of your health," Bruce argued. "It's dangerous,"

"I'm not going to some fitness camp, it's a science and tech camp. I'd be standing around doing stuff. Probably sitting. I do that anyway here," Tony defended. "Anyway, it's easier than scrambling around for sleepovers,"

Bruce frowned. "Alright fine. But you have to be careful,"

"I will,"

"So you won't speak to him? Bruce asked again. They rolled up to the entrance of the Stark Mansion.

"Nope," Tony opened the door and froze.

Bruce peeked out. "Looks like you're going to," They both got out of the car. "I'm going to leave, you need to speak to him,"

"No, Bruce, don't leave me alone," Tony whined.

"Come on, you jumped in front of a bullet for him, but you won't talk to him?" Bruce rolled his eyes. "Go be that arrogant Tony Stark he loves so much," He grinned and walked down the pathway, away from them.

"He does not love me," Tony tried to call after him but stopped when he realised Stephen probably hear. He sighed and began to walk up the stair to meet Stephen waiting at the front.

As he approached, Stephen began to speak. "I heard you were being released today-"

He was interrupted. "Just come in," Tony grumbled, leaving the door open.

"Oh- okay," Stephen awkwardly entered, closing the door behind him.

Tony walked into the kitchen, his crutches clinking on the tiles as he did, and began pouring himself an orange juice. "Start again,"

Stephen stared wide-eyed at him. "Um, okay. Well, I heard you were being released today, and I thought that that was a bit early, especially with your...situation,"

"I'm fine," Tony shrugged.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to check up on you," Stephen glanced back up at him.

"Well, I'm fine," Tony said, a little too starkly.

Stephen silently took a deep breath. "That's good to know," There was some silence before Stephen spoke again. "Um, well it's Wanda's birthday next Wednesday and we're all having a gathering at her place, she asked me to invite you,"

Tony groaned. "Argh, Wanda's birthday, I forgot. Dam it. Well, tell her I won't be able to make it,"

"Why not?" Stephen frowned. "You said you could, like last week,"

Tony looked up at him. "Yeah, well, last week I didn't know we were going to be attacked and that we would have an extra week of holidays. I already accepted, and it's for the best,"

Stephen slowed down. "Hold on, accepted what?"

Tony averted his eyes from his. "The Seniors Tech Camp. It goes for one and a half weeks. I leave tomorrow,"

"Seniors..." Stephen trailed off.

"Yeah. I get invitations every year, but I can never accept it because it overlaps into our classes and my father doesn't let me skip school," Tony sighed.

"But now you can because of the extra week," Stephen added it up. "But wouldn't it be better for you to heal here? You might open your wounds again,"

Tony shook his head. "I'll be fine. Better than being here,"

"What do you mean?"

Tony looked around, self-conscious. "We've only known each other properly this semester so you don't know. Only Steve and Bruce know- anyway, each holiday I try and organize sleepovers or something to stay away from my father. Bruce's family go away on the last week of holidays on their own holiday, and everyone's so busy and it's suspicious if I stay at someone's place all holidays-"

"I get it," Stephen said softly. "I-I understand," he glanced away.

"Why? What's wrong?"

Stephen shook his head. "I don't know. I just kinda looked forward to spending these holidays with you,"

Tony made a face. "Who are you and what have you done with Stephen Strange? Since when did you enjoy my presence?"

Stephen chuckled. "Since we both shared near-death experiences together,"

Tony looked up at the roof, hiding his smile unsuccessfully. "Right. About that. Thanks,"

Stephen smiled. "No problem. You saved me first," He thought for a moment before adding on. "Which was best for both of us, since you don't have enough medical knowledge to be able to perform CPR,"

Tony shot him a look. "And? You're not the one here who's been invited to Seniors Tech Camp ever since Year 7,"

Stephen shook his head. "Alright, genius,"

There was silence. A loud one. Stephen was at one end of the table, Tony at the other. Tony put down his cup and turned to face Stephen with nothing to say back. "Did-did you wear that scarf on purpose?" he almost choked out, surprised at himself for saying it.

Stephen opened his mouth but didn't answer.

Tony looked so different than a few days ago.

He wasn't covered in blood in a dark room, pale as a cloud.

He wasn't in a white hospital room with machines connected to him.

He was Tony Stark, with crutches, a breathing tube and an arrogant smile.

They both realised that both their breathing had gotten heavier.

Unsteady breathing, each breath caused by desire.

As they both opened their mouths to say something at the same time, they both stepped forward, finding themselves only a foot apart.

Stephen glanced down at Tony, Tony looking up at Stephen, both their faces flushed.

Stephen titled his head lower towards Tony.

He could almost feel his touch.

His throat lurched forward to feel his lips.

Tony stared into Stephen's eyes. His breaths shorter and deeper, with each breath a small pang of blunt aches from his injured lung.

He could feel Stephen's body heat from the chilly room.

His arm muscles ached to wrap them around him.

To receive the affection he lost when his mother entered that car.

To feel Stephen's lips one more time.

But the static white noise they seemed to hear in the pin-drop silence was interrupted.

They both flinched when they heard a distant clang of something falling on the ground from another room. Stephen glanced at Tony, who had almost ducked.

"I should go and rest," Tony suddenly said. "If you want, I can ask Happy to take you where you please,"

Stephen stared at him. "Um, no thanks, I can walk to where I need to go,"

"Are you sure?" Tony said before stepping up the stairs.

Stephen paused for a while before answering. "I'm sure. Be safe,"

"I will,"

Tony disappeared up the stairs. Stephen sighed and looked around the luxurious kitchen before heading to the door. As he opened it, Howard appeared into the hallway.

"You," Howard walked closer to Stephen. Stephen was close enough to smell the scent of alcohol. He edged closer to the outside, his hand about to close the door. "You stay away from Tony. You're not fit to be his friend,"

Stephen quickly shut the door and sprinted to the sidewalk, quickly out of breath. He glanced back at the house before continuing down the path.

**\\\The End/**

**Hello,**

**I am sorry to inform you that this is the last chapter in this book. (What's this? I finished a fic?)**

**Thank you to everyone who read it! It means a lot, and many of you have been very supportive! **

**And I'd like to announce:**

** THE SEQUEL**

**YEs**

**YaY :D**

**Unfortunately, it will not be immediate. If you've been here from the start, you know I am currently on holiday in a place far far away, and I am returning back home soon. **

**During this trip, I won't have internet for at least two weeks, (beginning this Sunday,) and then at least a week to catch up on schoolwork, so I'll be BUSY!**

**But don't worry. During this time, I will be planning the sequel, so it will be as perfect as I can get it.**

**So, the trip back home + school catch up + making the trailer (because I love making those,) = Begin writing and perhaps post around the 23rd - 26th of August. (Almost a month I know! I'm sorry!)**

**Stay tuned, you will be notified as soon as possible! **

**Still add this to your library (If you already have, keep it there,) because when it's all ready, I will post one last chapter on here, with the book description, trailer, and title!**

** I'm so excited, so thank you all, you're all amazing!**

**3 DJ**

**(One last thing, you can still request things if you want them to happen!)**


	26. COMIC INFORMATION

Comic Adaptation Information

If you're here, then you know what this is. If not,, then let me explain.

I have written a high-school AU fanfiction on Marvel's Avengers [+ a sequel] and now I am making a comic adaptation of it. This could not have been done without my fans from the fics and I praise all of you. *insert smiley face here*.

ALL pages will be posted on Deviantart and progress/sketches will be posted on my art account on Instagram. Since Wattpad doesn't do too well with quality and such, I will only post the first page of each chapter onto this story to update you all on the progress of it. AND since doesn't do a good job with images and such, nothing will be posted here. :( but please go to either my wattpad or Instagram to be updated or just go to my Deviantart to read the pages.

The comic will be almost adapted line to line onto the pages so it will take a while but I will post when I've finished a chapter (as you would on Wattpad).

Uhh, all links are below, so please go to each so you can be updated on this if you're interested! Also add this to your library so you can be reminded each time a chapter is uploaded!

FIND ALL PAGES HERE: tsforever3000/gallery/71678683/shield-academy-comic OR tsforever3000/gallery/71678683/shield-academy-comic

READ ORIGINAL FIC HERE (on same account): story/185670917-together-mcu-high-school-au OR story/185670917-together-mcu-high-school-au

FIND MY INSTAGRAM HERE: ts_forever3000/?hl=en OR ts_forever3000/?hl=en

(please tell if the links don't work, i haven't had a good record with this website lol)

THANK YOU, EVERYONE, FOR READING!

/DJ

[comment, it really helps!]

[vote, so I can get discovered!]

[and most importantly, read! thank you!]


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